SANPETE COUNTY, Utah — On Friday night, two school buses full of students at Wasatch Academy were traveling along US-89 near Ephraim, coming home from a basketball game, until a pickup truck drifted into their lane.
The pickup truck side-swiped the first bus carrying 19 people, then hit the second bus head-on.
Ashle Mosher said her daughter, Catalina, called her after the crash.
“She's like, 'First of all, I want you to know I'm okay, but we just got in a crash. Both buses have been hit by a car.' And I was like, 'What?'” Ashle said. “I could hear a lot of screaming and crying."
Catalina was one of the students on the first bus, which luckily did not have any injuries.
Coming from parents who have a background in EMS, she immediately called 911 and knew what to do.
“Cat sort of took control of her bus, got all the kids calmed down," said her dad, Eyan Mosher. "There were a couple kids having panic attacks. One of them was hyperventilating, passing out, so she got her calmed down until emergency services got there and they took over."
The second bus, however, had all 18 transported to the hospital, with two getting airlifted in critical condition.
“She knew that it was a really bad crash, especially the bus behind her. She knew that things weren't good there, but she kept her bus really calm,” Ashle said, "I can't believe she could do it at such a young age.”
The 43-year-old man driving the pickup truck died at the scene, and Utah Highway Patrol says fatigued driving was a possible factor.
“It's just as dangerous,” said UHP Trooper Takesha Durrant. "If you're ever feeling fatigued when driving, we always recommend to pull over at a safe location and get the sleep that you need before you continue back on the roadway."
While the school has been very helpful, Catalina’s parents said there are still some concerns.
“We've been really worried about the bigger picture. I mean, that's such a small school, and those kids are all really close, like they all know each other, and so we've been just kind of trying to comfort her,” Ashle said. "It was really scary, though — the most frightening thing I've been through in a long time.”
The school is pulling in trauma support services and postponing their final exams.
