BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — A school bus driver was killed by stepping on live wires after a crash in Beaver County on Friday.
On Saturday, the Beaver County coroner identified the driver as Timothy VanKirk, 60, of Ellwood City.
Emergency responders said there were no students on the bus when flames broke out on Foster Road around 3 p.m.
Officials tell Channel 11 that VanKirk hit a pole and brought down power lines on the bus, which then caught fire. The driver ran out of the bus, stepped on the wires and died.
VanKirk was out doing a dry run before school started next week at Riverside School District.
The bus company, First Student, provided the following statement:
"This is certainly tragic and from everyone at First Student our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this driver."
The coroner ruled VanKirk's death as accidental, caused by high-voltage electrocution.
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