Wrong-way driver crashes into student charter bus on Pa. turnpike, 6 injured

PLUM, Pa. — Six people were injured when their charter bus was hit head-on by an SUV on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. According to state police, the driver of the SUV was headed the wrong way.

Pennsylvania State police said the accident happened around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when a maroon Jeep Grand Cherokee smashed head-on into a charter bus.

The driver of the SUV was going the wrong way on the turnpike between the Monroeville and Allegheny Valley exits.

Investigators tell Channel 11 the tour bus was carrying high school students from Kouts Middle/High School in Indianapolis when the accident happened.

They were returning from a senior trip to Washington.

The driver of the SUV, Daniel Ghawaly of Florida, is still being treated at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville.

Driving the wrong way on the PA Turnpike? That’s what a Florida man did Tuesday & slammed into a bus full of students returning home to Indiana from a senior trip. We’ll tell you the charges he’ll face and how those involved are doing tonight on Channel 11 News starting at 5. pic.twitter.com/XzVpk6gtQH
— Erin Clarke (@ErinClarkeWPXI) March 22, 2018

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Police said Ghawaly was under the influence.

Ghawaly, the charter bus driver, two chaperones and four students were taken to Forbes Hospital.

The safety director of the charter company, Cavallo Bus Lines, told Channel 11 that its driver is OK.

Posts on the Kouts Middle School/High School Twitter account show that the students were back on the road Wednesday and the principal confirmed that they all arrived back in Indiana safe around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday.

"Everybody is doing fine. There are a couple of bumps and bruises, but everybody is doing OK," said Tom Stoner, principal at Kouts Middle School/High School.

Ghawaly is still in the hospital.

Police said he'll face charges of driving under suspension, driving the wrong way on a highway and driving under the influence.