After nearly 24 hours stranded on a Pennsylvania highway by the massive east coast blizzard, a group of students from northwest Indiana was able to dig their charter bus out of the snow, and is on the way home.
A group of 8th grade students from St. Mary School in Griffith, Indiana, was stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike from 8:30 p.m. Friday night to just after 6 p.m. Saturday evening.
The group was returning home from a field trip to Washington, D.C. They left D.C. around 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, and were stopped at mile marker 132, east of Pittsburgh, when a tractor trailer crashed ahead of them.
“You have a lot of students—8th grade students—who are going stir crazy,” said Barney Bejeski, the Athletic Director at St. Mary. “We’re trying to keep everybody going outside, getting some fresh air, stretching their legs.”
The National Guard was sent to help motorists stuck on the highway for miles, but the group said the only help they saw was a few bottles of water from a local fire department.
By 5 p.m., the snow had stopped, and by 6:30 p.m. the group was able to dig the bus out, and the students were on the move once again towards home.
