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A 61-year-old man from Gaithersburg was killed Tuesday afternoon after his sport utility vehicle struck an oncoming Ride On bus.

The man was pronounced dead at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, said Capt. Thomas Didone, commander of Montgomery County Police's 5th District station in Germantown. Police are awaiting family notification before they release the name of the deceased, he said.

Three passengers were on the bus at the time of the collision, Didone said. The bus driver and one passenger, a woman, were taken by ambulance to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

The woman was taken to Suburban Hospital with minor injuries, most notably scratches to her knee, Capt. Oscar Garcia, a spokesman for county Fire and Rescue Service, said. The bus driver was taken to Montgomery General Hospital in Olney with some minor injuries to his shoulder and neck area from the seat belt, he said.

The SUV was traveling southbound in the 23800 block of Woodfield Road, near Pleasant View Drive in Damascus just before 1 p.m., Didone said.

"For whatever reason, the man crossed the centerline into the northbound lane and hit a Ride On bus head on," Didone said.

The road remained closed late Tuesday afternoon while the accident investigation team was at the scene, he said. He could not say when it would reopen.