When parents allow their children to be transported to school and home again on school buses, they are trusting that the driver and the vehicle will ferry their kids to their destination safely. Thankfully, school bus accidents are relatively rare in Las Vegas; but Tuesday was a rare exception.

On Tuesday afternoon, not one but two school bus accidents occurred in separate locations in the valley within a few minutes of each other. Shortly after 3:20pm, a school bus carrying 44 passengers was turning from Tropicana Avenue onto the southbound ramp of Interstate 15 (just west of McCarran International Airport). A white Kia struck the bus on its right side, forcing the bus driver and three students to be taken to University Medical Center. There’s no word on how old the injured children are.

Just minutes later, another crash involving a school bus took place on West Carey Avenue at the intersection with Simmons Street just southwest of the North Las Vegas airport. A sport utility vehicle collided with the bus, and the SUV’s driver had to be rushed to UMC in critical condition. Thankfully, there were no injuries among the six bus passengers who were all ten years of age or younger.

Police are investigating both crashes and have yet to assign blame in either incident. If either school bus driver is found to be at fault, they and their school districts could be named as defendants in personal injury lawsuits filed by the SUV driver and/or the parents of the injured children.