SANTA CRUZ — A UC Santa Cruz Loop Bus crashed into a historic lime kiln near the campus’ main entrance on Coolidge Drive about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, injuring six people.
The bus carried five student passengers and a driver, said UC Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Domby and a campus spokesperson.
The bus was traveling down a hill on Coolidge Drive and left the road before it collided with the historic structure. The bus came to rest in a grassy area and the impact crumpled its front end.
Four of the injured students were taken to Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz to receive care for moderate to minor injuries, UCSC wrote in a campus update Wednesday. Two others were taken to Valley Medical Center trauma center in Santa Clara with major injuries, according to Domby.
Domby said his department was still investigating the cause of the crash Tuesday evening.
The crash damaged the Cowell Lime Works Historic District’s more than 160-year-old lime kiln and may have caused structural issues, according to the university. Officials asked the public to avoid the area in order to prevent injury.
The traumatizing event caused a ripple in the UCSC community, spreading quickly by word of mouth and social media posts, as students gathered in small groups near the crash Tuesday night. Students were in the midst of course finals this week, according to the university. Many of the students speculated on a possible cause of the crash, frequently referencing last month’s campus shuttle engine fire.
Fourth-year student Alexandra Anest and her boyfriend Albert Supradit came out to see what happened shortly after the crash, having noticed numerous ambulances, fire trucks and a police presence in the area after returning from an off-campus shopping trip. Anest said she had injured her ankle earlier in the day and needed to take a similar bus to get back to her room just a couple of hours before the crash.
“So, I got on the Loop and I sat on the Loop until I got home,” Anest said. “Now, I’m seeing the Loop and I’m like, is that the Loop that I was just on? It’s crazy.”
UC Santa Cruz administration is offering support to students in need via its Counseling and Psychological Services program and via Slug Support, with information available at caps.ucsc.edu and deanofstudents.ucsc.edu/slug-support/program. For faculty and staff, the university’s Employee Assistance Program, at shr.ucsc.edu/benefits/eap, offers counseling and other support.