Two female students were taken to Athens Regional Medical Center after falling out of a bus Thursday, according to the University Campus Transit.

A crowded Orbit bus began to leave from the biology/chemistry stop on Cedar Street after 11 a.m. As the bus turned, the rear back doors swung open, causing two female students to fall out of the bus and onto the sidewalk.

“I saw her fall, but I didn’t see what happened. Others who saw said she hit the curb,” a student, who was on the Orbit bus, said but declined to comment for attribution.

“The bus was packed, and there was pressure on the door,” Chris Baker, assistant manager of the Campus Transit System, said. “Either way it should not have opened.”

Baker said he is unsure how the doors opened while the bus was in motion.

“When the bus stops, the [door] brakes automatically apply, but it is possible that the doors opened further than they should have,” he said.

Baker said the bus involved in the accident began working in 1995 and buses typically operate between 13 and 15 years.

“Honestly, some of the buses – like the bus that was in the accident that occurred – should not even be running. It is an older bus that has a lot of wear and tear on it,” a student bus driver, who declined to comment for attribution, said in telephone interview Thursday.

The condition of the two students injured was unknown at press time. Baker said one student appeared to have scrapes and bruises but he was unsure about the injuries of the second student.

The Orbit bus involved will not be running as Campus Transit managers try to determine the cause of the accident.

“We are following all processes to make sure the bus is running properly, including mechanical inspections,” said Ron Hamlin, manager of the Campus Transit System.