Both of the injured were in the passenger vehicle and their injuries were not thought to be life-threatening, according to the Michigan State Police Gladstone Post. No one on the school bus was hurt.

The report came in about 1:45 p.m. on U.S. 2 and 41 near the intersection with P Road. Preliminary investigation by MSP troopers “indicated that the passenger vehicle crossed the center line and side-swiped the school bus due to the driver suffering from a possible medical event,” a news release from MSP stated.

The two occupants of the passenger vehicle, a gray SUV, were entrapped and had to be extricated. Rampart EMS transported both to OSF St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba for treatment.

The school bus driver and the one juvenile and two adult passengers on board were not injured, according to the news release.

A passenger vehicle faces northbound in the ditch on the western side of U.S. 2 after colliding Thursday afternoon with a Gladstone school bus. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Debris, including a tire from the school bus, was scattered on the roadway in front of Superior Used Cars but was cleaned up before responders left the scene. The southbound bus, after taking damage primarily to its driver’s side, came to rest on the western side of the highway near the southernmost end of the car lot — across from Barn on the Bay Ice Cream Parlor. The other the SUV landed in the ditch on the same side of the road but nearly a quarter-mile north, with a fair bit of damage.

MSP, the lead agency in the incident, was assisted by Escanaba Township Fire Department, Escanaba Public Safety, Delta County Sheriff’s Office, Gladstone Public Safety, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Rampart EMS, Gene’s Towing and Pro Towing.

While the responders from various agencies worked, the west side of the highway, usually for southbound vehicles, was closed to traffic. However, traffic heading both north and south was allowed to pass, slowly and carefully, under direction by responders on scene.

An emergency responder with the Escanaba Township Volunteer Fire Department directs traffic in the rain and fog after a crash between an SUV and Gladstone school bus on U.S. 2 and 41 on Thursday afternoon. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Despite more than 15 emergency vehicles with flashing lights responding to the collision between a SUV and Gladstone school bus Thursday afternoon on U.S. 2 and 41 near the border of Wells and Escanaba Townships, traffic continues to flow cautiously in both directions. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)