Six children have been taken to the hospital, as a precaution, after a bus overturned on its side, according to the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Captain John Babin told KLFY twelve children were on board at the time. Some were treated for minor cuts and bruises.

Babin also said the bus driver was not injured. The incident happened on the corner Bourque and Johnston Street.

Sheriff’s deputies received the call around 4:25 p.m. A mechanical malfunction caused the bus to overturn, according to Captain Babin and the Lafayette Parish School System.

Crews worked quickly to clear the bus from the roadway.

LPSS Director of Transportation Damon Evans told KLFY:

“We believe to be some mechanical failures in the rear end of the bus which happened to kind of throw it to the right. And then it actually brushed up against the culvert, that’s what popped the bus up and over on to its side.

Every driver knows the exact protocol of what to do when you get in an accident the exact steps. It looks like this particular time they did it exactly how it’s supposed to be done. Everybody on the bus exited from the rear safety latch.”” Said Evans.

Accidents happen. Sometimes you can avoid them sometimes you can’t. It looks like this one we really couldn’t avoid it. It was just something that happened and you know the bus overturned but it turned out a lot better than we expected.”

Carly Laing spoke with neighbors who saw the accident happen, and they say the ditches have been the source of several previous accidents in the past.