A 2004 Kia Sorrento is seen in the foreground as State Police investigate a crash that occurred at 11:40 a.m. outside Centerville. Four of the five occupants of the SUV were killed after the vehicle suffered a blowout and crashed head-on into a Lafayette Parish school bus, seen at far right.

CENTERVILLE — Three children passengers and the driver of a sport utility vehicle that struck a school bus on U.S. 90 near its intersection with Louisiana 317 in Centerville were killed about midday Saturday when they were thrown from the SUV.

A fifth person, who was not ejected, was taken to a local hospital with critical injuries, according to Louisiana State Police.

The driver of the 2004 Kia Sorrento, Ladonna Cheatham, 36, of Patterson, was ejected from the car and killed. She was not wearing a safety belt, according to LSP Troop I Pubic Information Officer Trooper Stephen Hammons. The front seat passenger, 17-year-old Mark Cheatham, was restrained and suffered severe injuries. All three of the passengers in the rear seat — 6-year-old Destiny Cheatham, 7-year-old Dwayne Escort and 16-year-old Marcus Cheatham — were ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Hammons.

School bus driver Amy Dore, 40, was driving the Lafayette Parish School bus taking the Lafayette High School Baseball team to a scrimmage in Berwick. State Police said Dore was wearing a seat belt and was not injured in the crash.

State Police said 30 students and five adults were on the bus at the time of the crash.

Seven students, all of them teenagers, were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries. One adult, 23-year-old Cody Ortego of Lafayette, sustained moderate injuries and was taken to a local area hospital, according to state police.

Hammons said the SUV suffered a blowout to one of its tires while moving west of U.S. 90. The vehicle crossed the median and struck the bus head-on as it was being driven east. The bus and SUV were thrown off the side of the road, the SUV coming to rest between the median and service road and the bus careening over the service road to stop in an adjacent field.

The force of the impact left the engine and most of the SUV’s front end lying on the service road, between the two vehicles.

Lafayette Parish Schools Assistant Superintendent Sandra Billeadeau and Transportation Director Damon Evans have been in touch with State Police and local hospitals to coordinate the district’s response. Per LPSS policy, the driver will be tested for alcohol or other substances, but at this time school officials say they have no reason to believe the bus driver to have been at fault, according to Angela Morrision, LPSS director of community programs and partnerships.

Morrision also said state police indicated to LPSS that the actions of Dore likely prevented greater injury to her passengers.

”At this time, we are working to obtain more information and confirm the status of those taken to area hospitals,” Morrison said in her email. “We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss of life and our hearts go out to the family of the victims.”