PANGUITCH, Utah – A tour bus went off a state highway near Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah, landing upside down in a creek bed and catching fire Thursday.

At least five people aboard the bus were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, and most were treated and released, said Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Cameron Roden said. The bus was carrying 47 teenagers and a half-dozen chaperones from the East Coast.

Roden said everyone escaped the bus before it went up in flames.

The bus driver apparently drove onto the shoulder of the road, slid in the soft dirt and lost control, Roden said.

The driver, whose name wasn't released, was ticketed, but Thursday night Roden didn't know the exact charge.

The bus was headed eastbound on winding State Route 12 through Red Canyon, a gateway to the national park, when it went off the road around noon.

The injured passengers were taken to Garfield Memorial Hospital, where some were given neck and back braces, said Becki Bronson, a spokeswoman for the Garfield County sheriff's office. Others were given a meal at a nearby Mormon church meeting house.

Sheriff's deputies identified the tour operator as Rein Teen Tours of Wayne, N.J.

“We're working on the situation,” Frank Levine, director of Rein Teen Tours, told The Star-Ledger of Newark Thursday night. “Everyone seems to be okay, thank God. We're trying to take care of all the kids. We're contacting their parents, and we're staying here until we contact everyone.”

Those involved in the crash were from the northern New Jersey-New York area and were participating in a six-week tour of the western United States.