Shields ? A tractor trailer carrying sand collided with a school bus Wednesday afternoon in a remote part of western Kansas, killing a 9-year-old boy and seriously injuring three others students, police said.

Joey Speer, of the Dighton area, died from injuries sustained in the accident, said Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Ron Knoefel.

Three other students — an eighth-grade girl, fifth-grade boy and a fourth-grade girl — were airlifted to Wichita with serious to critical injuries, Knoefel said.

The accident at the intersection of Kansas Highway 4 and Elm Street south of Shields in Lane County happened around 3:45 p.m., when the bus failed to yield and was hit by the tractor trailer, Knoefel said. The body of the bus was ripped from the vehicle’s frame.

Police continued to investigate at the accident scene, about 35 miles northeast of Garden City.