Girl dies, students hurt in school bus rollover horror

First responders faced a "confronting scene" when they arrived to a school bus rollover to find a student dead and more than a dozen other children injured.

The crash near Stonehaven, in Victoria's south, about 8.20am on Wednesday closed a highway west of Geelong.

A girl died at the scene and a boy was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

The bus was making a turn at a bend onto the Hamilton Highway when it hit a railing and rolled, Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Lineham said.

There were 28 school students on board ranging up to secondary school age who were on their way back to Geelong Christian College.

Two children were in the Royal Children's Hospital while nine were in University Hospital Geelong suffering broken bones and skull fractures to milder injuries, Education Minister Ben Carroll confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.

The 76-year-old driver was also injured but has been released from hospital and is assisting police, while detectives await the results of drug and alcohol tests.

First responders faced a confronting scene when they arrived, Det Lineham said.

"Any life lost on the road is one life too many, and particularly confronting and challenging when there's children involved," he told reporters.

Investigators are looking into what caused the incident and will assess the driver's competency to drive and whether fatigue, drugs and alcohol or medical conditions played a role.

The bus will also be mechanically examined and detectives will look at the corner and what role the weather played in the crash.

Det Lineham said the bus had seatbelts but investigators are yet to determine where each passenger was sitting at the time.

"The seatbelts will form part of the investigation as to whether they were worn or not," he said.

Ambulance Victoria manager David Shearer said several students were assessed and treated for injuries, including abrasions and bruises, before they were released back to the school.

"It's a really confronting day for those kids going to school as they would normally do," Mr Shearer said.

"It's a really challenging thing to to deal with, and there's going to be difficult days to come."

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said her thoughts were with the students and their families.

"We stand ready to support you in every way we can," she said.

The incident will affect many in the tight-knit Geelong community, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said.

The crash comes after 18 students from Exford Primary School were hospitalised, with seven children seriously injured, when a truck crashed into the back of their school bus in May 2023.

In June that year, 10 wedding guests were killed and another 25 were injured when their coach rolled near Greta in the Hunter Valley.

A school bus carrying 31 students and teachers from Loreto College Ballarat, on its way to the airport to take the teens on a NASA space camp, rolled down an embankment after it was allegedly rear-ended in 2022.

The matter, which is still before the courts, resulted in three passengers allegedly being ejected from the bus and the rest being trapped in their seatbelts.

The crashes sparked renewed debate over bus safety and how that could have been improved with seatbelts.