Driver dies in collision with bus

SUMNER – A teenage motorist was fatally injured and six students from SAD 39 were taken to the hospital Wednesday as a precaution after a head-on collision between a bus and a sport utility vehicle, officials said.

The collision happened shortly before 8 a.m. on Bonney Road, just off Route 140, when the SUV crossed the centerline and into the path of the bus, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The SUV’s driver, Amy Cerrato, 16, of Sumner, died at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, McCausland said. The crash occurred as she was en route to the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, where she was a student.

Six students and the bus driver were taken to a hospital to be checked out, said John Ackley of SAD 39 in Buckfield. The bus, with 31 children aboard, was headed to the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School.

The bus driver, Merriel Perry, 63, of Sumner, was also taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation, but state police said snow had barely begun falling and the weather was not believed to be a factor.