14 DAY TRIAL // A school bus has run off a bridge in Kansas, plummeting into a river with children aboard. Sheriff Kelly Herzet details that the Butler County school bus has been involved in the accident.
KAKE reported that 10 children were on the bus when the driver lost control of the vehicle, which ended up in the Butler County creek.
All the passengers have been rescued and are now safe. The driver has also been safely pulled out of the water.
"They were checked out by Butler County EMS prior to being brought up to the parents. The driver of the bus had been in the water for quite some time," Herzet says.
The bus fell in the creek at 4 p.m. yesterday, near 190th Street and SW Hopkins Switch Road, in the proximity of Douglass. Because of the current, rescue teams were not able to use boats to get to the passengers.
"I really give all the credit to the kids that were on the bus that took the time to help each other. The lesson here is not to drive through water," Herzet says.
Rescuers climbed on lines, helped the children and the driver put on life jackets and had them climb back up.
"The bus flipped over, and we [were] in the water, student Logan Parker recalls for KSN.
"A lot of kids were screaming and crying. Since I was the oldest, I was helping everybody else, so I was the last one (student) out of the bus," he says.
The children are six to twelve years old. Parker mentions waiting two hours and a half to be pulled out.
"I thought I was going to die. I would never ever see my grandma again, and I was scared," the young boy remembers.