ATLANTA _ The number of people injured in a deadly church bus crash in Fulton County has increased after police said a third vehicle was involved.
The bus from Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., was traveling east on Camp Creek Parkway when it attempted to change into the lane of a Chrysler 200, Fulton County police Cpl. Partrena Smith said.
"The initial collision caused the bus driver to steer to the left, abruptly causing him to lose control," Smith said.
The bus then entered the uneven median, rolled over and slid into a Mercedes traveling in the westbound lanes, Smith said.
The crash killed 17-year-old bus passenger Sarah Harmening on the scene and injured 37 other people on the bus.
Two people in the Mercedes and the driver of the Chrysler were also injured, Smith said.
"We do not believe any of the other injuries are life-threatening," Smith said. "But we are still in the process of confirming this."
Most of the about 40 people taken to local hospitals after the crash are now free to return home.
Twenty patients taken to WellStar Health Center hospitals have been treated and released, system spokeswoman Sharon Salmon said Friday morning.
Five of six victims were treated and released at Southern Regional Medical Center, and five of the nine victims taken to Grady Memorial Hospital have been treated and released, officials said.
That was not the case for Harmening, one trauma patient at Atlanta Medical Center and eight other victims still at local hospitals.
Four of them are in stable condition at Grady, and four others, whose conditions weren't released, are at WellStar hospitals, officials said. One woman is in stable condition at Southern Regional, Kimberly Golden-Benner said.
The church bus was en route to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at the time of the crash.
First responders had to extricate one victim from the bus, police said.
The bus passengers were headed to Africa for a mission trip, Smith said.
Harmening had been afraid to travel, but her faith in God restored her confidence in going, her family said at a news conference late Thursday night.
The church is registered as a "private passenger-non-business" operator with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates interstate trucking and passenger buses and vans.
The church reported to federal regulators that it has three such vehicles and 10 drivers and was registered for interstate operation, according to the most recent federal data.
Its vehicles had no record of previous crashes or violations or of having been previously inspected or investigated by federal authorities.
No other details were released.
