The Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office reports the two victims of a Riverside School bus fire on December 12th, died of smoke and soot inhalation coupled with thermal injuries. The deaths of a passenger, 16-year old Megan Klindt, and the driver, 74-year old Donnie Hendricks, have been ruled accidental. The fire broke broke out around 7 a.m. after the vehicle backed out of a farm driveway and entered a ditch across the road.

Deputies arrived on scene around 7:20 a.m. but were unable to board the bus because it was fully engulfed in flames. Fire department crews from Carson and Oakland extinguished the fire. The farmstead was the first scheduled stop on the bus route. No one else was on board.