Thirteen Dallastown Area Middle School students were injured Wednesday morning when the tour buses they were on were involved in crashes on the Capital Beltway in Maryland.

The eighth-graders were taken to two area hospitals for treatment of minor injuries and were released, said acting district Superintendent Ron Dyer.

The students were on three buses, part of a 10-bus convoy, en route to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., for a science field trip when the 10:30 a.m. crash occurred just outside the city.

The uninjured students on two of the buses were transported back to Dallastown Area Middle School and arrived there about 3:30 p.m.

The remaining eight buses continued to Washington, D.C., Dyer said.

Parents of students involved in the crashes were notified, he said.

Crashes: Maryland State Police said the students where injured in two crashes that happened nearly simultaneously.

George Bull Jr., 62, of Manchester was driving one of the buses that was carrying 44 students and adult chaperones involved in the first crash, police said.

Troopers said they believe Bull was following too closely behind another bus, driven by Larry Stutts, 68, of Liverpool, in heavy traffic when his bus struck Stutts' bus from behind.

Stutts' bus was carrying an unknown number of passengers. After determining his bus could be driven, Stutts continued on to Washington, D.C., police said.

About the same time, a box truck, driven by Rigoberto Villatoro, 43, of Silver Spring, Md., rear-ended a third bus in another lane, police said.

There were 42 students and chaperones on that bus. Police did not release the name of the driver of that bus.

Adults on board the buses called 911. Emergency responders evaluated everyone and decided to transport 13 students to nearby hospitals, Dyer said.

"I'm sure (the crashes) were pretty jarring," he said.

Bull, Stutts and Villatoro have been cited as a result of the crashes. Bull and Villatoro were cited for following too closely and Stutts was cited with leaving the scene of a crash, police said.

The bus Bull was driving and the box truck were towed from the scene.

Staff writer Erin James contributed to this report. - Reach Greg Gross at 505-5434, ggross@yorkdispatch.com, or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/greggrss.