A school bus with five children aboard was lost for about an hour Tuesday morning, setting off a high-tech search mission that ended in a Target parking lot.

On his second day on the route, the driver for Metropolitan Transportation Network was heading from Brooklyn Center to FAIR School in Crystal when he mistakenly went off course, according to the State Patrol.

Once bus dispatchers detected a problem, they notified the patrol about 9:20 a.m., said patrol Lt. Eric Roeske.

Thanks to a global positioning system locator, troopers caught up to the wayward bus, complete with kids and a bewildered driver, about 10 minutes later in the Target lot at West Broadway and Bass Lake Road in Crystal, Roeske said. That's about 2 miles north of the school.

"The kids started giving him directions," Roeske said. "He still got lost and didn't realize his radio was off. He was a little bit unsure what was going on when he was stopped."

The students, ages 9 to 12, were supposed to arrive at school between 8 and 8:30 a.m., said Keith Lester, superintendent of the West Metro Education Program, which includes students from many Minneapolis suburbs.

Paramedics checked out the ­children, and a bus company supervisor arrived and got them safely to the school.

"We're not happy with it but really relieved to know our kids are OK," Lester said. "We've been assured he won't be driving our kids anymore."

Bus company owner Tashitaa Tufaa said the drug test taken by the driver showed "that everything was negative."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482