ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate Thursday’s deadly four vehicle accident on I-44 near Gray Summit.

Two people were killed in the accident, which involved two school busses, a semi-tractor trailer cab and a G.M.C. pick-up.

A high school student, 15-year-old Jessica Brinker, was killed along with the pick-up driver, 19-year-old Daniel Schatz.

School bus accidentview gallery
Schatz is the son of David Schatz, who just won the Republican Primary for the District 111 state house seat in Franklin County..

Some fifty other students were injured and taken to area hospitals. One is being kept overnight at Cardinal Glennon.

The tractor trailer had stopped for construction work on I-44 at the Grey Summit exit, when the pick-up truck hit the cab.

The first bus, carrying female band students from John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Missouri, hit the rear of the pick-up. The second bus, carrying male students, hit the first bus.

Jessica Brinker was sitting in the rear of the first bus.

The driver of that bus told the Missouri State Highway Patrol that she had just changed lanes to avoid a car that was stalled on the side of the road and didn’t notice the accident between the pick-up and the tractor trailer cab.

Rocky Griffith recalled the call from his son, Kolby, after the crash.

“His first words were, ‘Dad, we’ve been in an accident and we need you to start praying,’” Rocky said. “That’s his first priority: the security and the health of his peers.”

Kolby said he was sitting in the back of the second bus when the collision happened.

“I wasn’t able to see much,” he said. “I was just trying to get away.. to get everyone away from the bus.”

Although the N.T.S.B. will investigate, whether there are any charges will be decided by the Franklin County Prosecutor.

The high school band students were making their annual trip to Six Flags when the accident occurred.

The pick-up truck driver, 19 year old Daniel Schatz, had been a backup quarterback for the University of Missouri before transferring to Westminster College.

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