The mother of a pupil caught up in the Co Down school bus crash has described the terrifying phone call she received from her son moments after the double decker overturned in a field.
“I could hear lots of kids crying and screaming,” said Claire Mitchell.
The bus had been carrying 43 pupils from Strangford College when it overturned and landed in a field near Carrowdore.
An operation to remove the bus from the field was carried out on Tuesday, with the vehicle taken away and the road reopened.
Translink confirmed on Tuesday that it is “assisting the PSNI with their investigations” adding that “our thoughts are with all those involved in this incident”.
A spokeswoman also said “our driver is recovering and is being offered all available supports”.
Among those whose child was among the passengers on the bus is Co Down author Claire Mitchell, who told of how within seconds of the call from her 11-year-old son, she was driving to the scene.
Speaking to The Irish News on Tuesday, she said: “I have never been so frightened.
“I got a phone call, he was shouting ‘the bus has crashed, the bus has crashed’. I could hear lots of kids crying and screaming in the background.
“He was on the top deck, he was saying, ‘it’s crashed, come and get me’.
“That feeling, getting that call, was awful.
“He was able to drop me a pin from his phone... I battered down in the car to get there as quick as I could.
“I rang as many parents as I could on the way as some hadn’t heard what had happened.
“When I got there, I parked and ran and ran and when I arrived there were kids with foil blankets around them and some people lying on the ground.”
Ms Mitchell, a former sociologist at Queen’s University Belfast, described how the emergency services, particularly the paramedics, “had it under control so quickly, they were brilliant”.
“They had everyone separated into groups based on their condition, from those who were shaken, the walking wounded, those who were a bit more unpredictable and the more serious. Everything was so focused,” she said.
She said while her son had walked away, he was in some pain on Tuesday.
“He’s bruised up today and he’s in pain with his shoulder, which he hurt,” she said.
“More bruises have come up on his today and he didn’t get much sleep last night.
“But it does look like most of then onboard were very lucky, we were blessed in a way.
“Obviously a few were taken to hospital, we have heard that some have been discharged, and I’m hoping any others will recover ok.”
Another eye-witness, Gary Smyth, described trying to kick in glass on the bus to help pupils out after the crash.
The plasterer told the BBC how he took a hammer from his work van and along with a colleague “just attacked the glass like lunatics”.
He said “through the cracked glass, you could see the panic in their faces” adding it was hard to believe no-one was killed.
“I definitely thought as we were breaking in that we were going to be lifting something out, some limbs or something, somebody,” he said.
