from staff reports
Twelve-year-old Maggie Lee Henson of Shreveport, La., died Sunday evening at a Jackson hospital — making her the second victim of the church bus accident that happened on Interstate 20/59 last month, Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler said.
Henson had been battling severe head injuries and brain trauma in the hospital's ICU since the July 12 accident east of Meridian. She was among the group of 30 from First Baptist Church of Shreveport, La., who were traveling through Meridian on their way to Georgia for a youth camp when the church bus flipped several times in the eastbound lane.
Henson, daughter of the church's associate pastor, was one of three of the injured who were airlifted to Jackson. Brandon Ugarte, 18, was pronounced dead shortly after the July 12 accident at a Meridian hospital.
Officials said the accident occurred after a tire on the bus blew out. Henson was one of the passengers who was thrown from and later trapped under the bus.
A group of Alabama Army National Guard troopers who were traveling behind the church bus July 12 heaved the bus off of Henson and another victim minutes after the accident. She was later airlifted to Jackson.
For more information on the church and to find ways to help assist the victims and the families of this accident, visit www.fbcshreveport.org/.
