Newbury, Vt. — Five Newbury Elementary School students were transported to Cottage Hospital as a precautionary measure after their school bus was involved in a three-car crash that caused minor damage to the rear of the bus. 

No injuries were reported from the crash that took place during heavy snow at about 7:30 this morning on Route 5 in Newbury, Vt., according to a news release from Vermont State Police. Police reported road conditions as wet and icy.

Police said Pauline Bonanno, 58, of Haverhill, was driving a 2016 Jeep Compass southbound, near the intersection with Snake Road, when she saw the bus driving in her direction.

“Upon seeing the school bus (Bonanno) attempted to make more room on the road for the bus to get by, but lost control of her vehicle as she hit a patch of ice,” Trooper Luke Rodzel wrote in the release.

The car behind Bonnano, a 2004 GMC 1500 operated by Scott Mathews, 45, of Haverhill, lost control when Mathews tried to avoid the Jeep, police said. It hit the same patch of ice, sliding into the Jeep and then the the rear left side of the bus. 

Police said the school bus operator, William Jones, “immediately pulled over and ensured all occupants were safe.” The students taken to the hospital as a precaution had been sitting in the back of the bus at the time of the crash.