MINNESOTA ? A bus loaded with elementary school students hurtled through an intersection and into two other vehicles Friday, sending two dozen people – all but three of them children – to hospitals. The driver told investigators the brakes had failed.

The crash happened just a few blocks from the bus’s destination, McKinley Elementary School, where parents rushed to find out if their kids were OK. The school set up a meeting center in the gym and contacted the parents of children on the bus, school officials said.

In all, 24 people were taken to hospitals Friday morning: 18 students, the bus driver, a family in a sport utility vehicle and the driver of a station wagon heavily damaged in the crash, said Anoka County Sheriff’s Capt. Dave Jenkins.

Most of those injured were not seriously hurt; several had been treated and released by Friday afternoon. The woman in the SUV, however was reported in critical condition.