Fifteen people were injured in a three-vehicle accident involving an ambulance, a pickup truck and a small bus Tuesday morning in Marion County.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, a Marion County Fire Rescue ambulance was responding to a call with its sirens on at 8:58 a.m. at the intersection of Southwest 90th Street and Southwest 80th Avenue.
As it crossed the intersection, a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck and a bus from Bridge to Hope Community Education Center, an adult training center, struck the ambulance on its right side, which caused it to roll over on its side.
In a video of the incident, the ambulance with lights and sirens turned on appeared to slow entering the intersection before proceeding across the lanes. The bus and a pickup traveling side by side seemed not to slow as they entered the intersection and collided with the ambulance on its driver's side, flipping the ambulance onto its side and causing it to skid. It looks as though the bus in the inside lane may have unintentionally blocked the view of the ambulance for the pickup driver.
The highway patrol did not immediately indicate whether any driver had been cited with a traffic violation.
The crash occurred near the Marion County Fire Station #21, which allowed rescuers to be on the scene a minute later.
Two Marion County Fire Rescue firemen on board the ambulance were transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center with minor injuries, Marion County Fire Rescue reported.
All 12 passengers on the bus, including the driver, were transported to local hospitals.
Eight of the 11 special needs passengers were transported for precaution, while the other three suffered minor injuries.
The male driver of the pickup truck also received minor injuries, said Florida Highway Patrol, which is investigating the crash.
Another Marion County Fire Rescue ambulance responded to the original call the first ambulance was heading toward.
In a Facebook post on the incident, Marion County Fire Rescue reminded citizens to “yield to emergency vehicles as our lights and sirens are on.”
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