(11/30/18) - Two West Branch-Rose City Area Schools students have broken bones after their bus crashes into a tree. Investigators believe the bus driver nodded off before the crash.

It happened around 7:30 a.m. Friday on Doll Road, just off of E. Heath Road. That's in Ogemaw County's Rose Township, north of Lupton.

Ogemaw County Sheriff Howie Hanft said the accident was reported to 911. "It came in as no injuries, slid off, another bus coming to pick it up kids. So, really wasn't a major thing. Well my Lt. Casselman went to the scene, once he arrived at the scene, well things changed quickly. The bus was probably totaled, and there was 16 kids on the bus. There's broken bones and injuries. And we ended up transporting 16 kids to the hospital.

As a result of the accident a seven-year-old girl has a broken collar bone, and a 12-year-old boy has a broken leg.

A total of 16 elementary and middle school students were on the bus at the time, along with the 33-year-old bus driver.

Each of them was checked out at MidMichigan Medical Center-West Branch as a precaution. Many of them have bumps and bruises.

Thirteen of the students were transported to the hospital via a second school bus, while three students were taken there by their parents.

Hanft said there is a video camera on the bus. The recording shows the bus driver appearing to nod of before striking the tree. "It looks like his tracks just sort of veered right off, don't see any fish markings or fishtaling, so it looks like just a ran off the road. He estimated 35, 40 miles-an-hour. Looking at the damage that's probably at least correct because that's a lot of damage to that bus," he said.

Superintendent Phil Mikulski first went to the crash site before heading to the hospital to be with students and their families.

"It could have been a lot worse, it could have been. I don't want to minimize that this was a serious accident, but when you see the pictures and you see on scene what that tree looked like when it made impact with that bus, really it shows how safe school buses are built," Mikulski said.

Mikulski said the video recording revealed something else. Immediately following the crash students started to check on one another and the bus driver. He's proud of how they responded.

And while pictures from the accident show snow on Doll Road at the time of the crash, Hanft and Mikulski said that did not play a role in this crash.

"Road conditions were not a factor in this, you know driving the school bus is a tough job and human error today, unfortunately it resulted in an accident," Mikulski said.

A sheriff's office investigator will forward his report to the prosecutor's office for review. It'll be up to a prosecutor to decide if the bus driver will be charged with anything.