10/12/09

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Utah music teacher killed while trying to prevent the crash of a bus carrying dozens of her students is being hailed as a heroine.

Woodwind instructor Heather Christensen was killed Saturday night when the bus veered from Interstate 15 and rolled south of Pocatello, Idaho, where the American Fork High School band had won a competition hosted by Idaho State University.

Students and colleagues say Christensen left her seat to grab the steering wheel after seeing the bus driver slump over. She was partially ejected in the rollover, and relatives say her effort to correct the course of the bus probably kept the crash from being worse.

Christensen was the only fatality.

Classes at American Fork resumed today after a vigil in a packed gymnasium last night.