Five teachers trapped, school children died and two fighting for life as school bus overturn in Carrowdore.
Five teachers trapped, school children died and two fighting for life as school bus overturn in Carrowdore.
A’serious road traffic collision’ involved a school bus carrying forty-three students, leaving two children first stuck inside and four individuals sent to the hospital.
The situation on Ballyblack Road East in County Down, Northern Ireland, was described as “like a battlefield” and police and ambulance personnel responded.
Near Carrowdore and Strangford, a community 30 miles from Belfast, the bus flipped over and ended up sideways in a field next to the country road.
Once it veered off the road with kids’screaming’ in terror, the blue bus was seen tipped on its side in a field, surrounded by police and roped off.
A man with a ‘hammer’ smashed the windows so that schoolchildren could climb out or be carried to safety, and shocking photos from the scene show the broken windscreen and the kids standing next to it, gripping their backpacks.
According to reports, one child got stuck when their arm got entangled, and another got stuck when their leg got locked. Now, every youngster has been taken out.
‘Children can be seen helping pull [other] children’ from the bus, stated witnesses.
Although the cause of the collision is unknown, it is believed that the bus was on its way to Newtownards. Most of the people on board are from Strangford College, and no other cars are believed to be involved.
The bus struck a “pole or a post before shuddering” and plummeting into a ditch, according to one witness, while another compared the sight to “a battlefield.”
On the top deck of the bus was 12-year-old Dylan Lee, a Strangford Integrated College Year 8 student.
“I was on the top deck on the right side,” he claimed. My friend and I were just sitting there. His arm hurt, but other than that, he’s alright.
The bus began to stall after colliding with a pole and descended this hill. It began to tremble. When I opened my eyes after closing them, I found myself on the ground.
“I called my mother as soon as I woke up,” he continued.
Stacey Lee, his mother, said that her son had a cut and a bump on his head. “I heard him yelling that he had crashed, and I could hear all the kids screaming in the background,” she added. It was terrible.
Dylan went on to say: “Then this guy came down with a hammer and they were smashing all the windows so we could escape.”
I was scuttling beneath objects like school bags and handrails.