Pastor: Grateful for prayers after traumatic church bus accident

What was supposed to be a day to share their faith and help others turned into a nightmarish accident at one of Habersham County’s most dangerous intersections.

On Saturday afternoon, a van carrying nine members of the River Point Community Church and an SUV collided on GA 365 at the Demorest-Mt. Airy Highway.

It was the last day of River Point’s local church mission project, Serve Wknd 2024. Two church buses were traveling together when an SUV struck one of them on the passenger side.

River Point Pastor Kevin Mangum told Now Habersham that two adults and seven teenagers were in the van involved in the crash. Five of the teens were injured. One of them was flown by helicopter to Egleston Children’s Hospital in Atlanta in critical condition, and two others were transported to children’s hospitals in the Atlanta area.

The other injured people were taken to nearby hospitals. Mangum says the two adults are physically fine, but are “shocked” by the accident.

“Our student church is on a mission trip in Habersham County this week doing some service projects, traveling from one destination to the next,” Mangum said. He is unsure where they were headed at the time of the accident.

The accident occurred on June 29 at approximately 1:39 p.m. The southbound lanes of GA 365 were closed near the intersection for several hours while emergency responders treated the injured and state police investigated the accident.

The Georgia State Patrol has not released any details about the accident. The names of the drivers and those injured were not released.

Mangum says the church is grateful for the congregation’s prayers.

“My main message is that I want to encourage the people of Habersham County to pray for the students and their families who are still being treated, because it was a very traumatic event.”