Today marks the 65th anniversary of the tragic Floyd County school bus accident that claimed 27 lives.

The incident happened on February 28th, 1958, when a school bus with 48 students from elementary and high school was headed for school in Prestonsburg on U.S. Route 23. The bus hit the rear of a wreck truck and fell down an embankment into the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River.

22 children managed to escape the bus. However, 26 children and the bus driver drowned as the bus became fully submerged underwater. The National Guard and local authorities and agencies responded to the incident.

Following the 1958 crash and the 1988 bus crash in Carrollton, Kentucky changed its public school bus equipment requirements and now requires a higher number of emergency exits than any other state in the country.