A large tree fell on the front end of a school bus in north-central New Jersey Friday morning, sending 10 students and the driver to a hospital. The incident happened around 7 a.m. in Tewksbury Township, some 50 miles west of Midtown Manhattan. Trash collectors who were nearby and saw the accident h appen raced to the scene to help get the children off the bus before first responders arrived, reported ABC 7. Emergency crews were dispatched to the area of Fairmount Road East and Addison Drive shortly after the incident. The first units to arrive then began issuing triage tags to assess the severity of the injuries, the Whitehouse Rescue Squad in Readington said in a statement on social media. The group, a volunteer-run nonprofit that offers EMS and rescue services to the local community, was joined in the effort by the Tewksbury First Aid and Rescue Squad. Members of the Pottersville Volunteer Fire Company and Califon Fire Company also responded to the scene “to help stabilize and secure the bus.” A total of 11 patients with minor injuries were transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation and later released. The students have since been reunited with their parents, said Jennifer Shouffler, the superintendent of Tewksbury Township Schools. “Due to the excellent skills and calm demeanor of our school bus driver, a potentially disastrous situation was averted and nobody was seriously injured,” she said in a statement. What may have caused the tree to fall has yet to be determined, though winds were gusting between 30 and 40 mph at the time of the accident. Cleanup crews noted the tree’s root system was very weak. ...read more read less