Strangford College: Bus rescuer used hammer to free pupils

School children were “crying and shouting for help” after their double-decker bus overturned in a field in County Down on Monday, according to an eyewitness.

Gary Smyth described trying to kick in glass to help pupils out after the crash on Ballyblack Road East, near Carrowdore, on Monday.

The plasterer described taking a hammer from his work van and along with a colleague “lifted the glass and we climbed in, and we lifted the pupils out”.

“It was like something out of a movie,” he added.

The bus was carrying 43 school children, as well as the driver, from Strangford Integrated College to Bangor, when it crashed just after 16:00 BST.

Four of the pupils were treated in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

“It just happened so quick,” Mr Smyth said.

“It’s just something you don’t want to see. Through the cracked glass, you could see the panic in their faces.

“They were crying and shouting for help, so we just attacked the glass like lunatics, and we got them out,” he said.

Mr Smyth said it was hard to believe that 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.

“I just couldn’t believe there were just cuts and bruises, and yes, I’m sure there are a load of sore backs, because they were all threw about the bus,” he said.

He said the driver was “absolutely in shock”.

“There was a medic on the scene and he was more panicked about the driver because everyone was out, bar the wee fella who was trapped with his arm and the wee girl with her leg, she was trapped,” he said.

One parent described how his daughters were still in shock about what happened and said that it would take a long time before they were able to get on a bus again.

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, Jonny Currie said: “When we heard the news, it was coming in drips and drabs, it was a very fast-moving situation and you were having to piece together different things you were hearing from other parents and what you were seeing on Facebook.”

He wanted to thank other parents who got to the scene first and phoned him to say his daughters were safe.

“I was at the bus station where I usually pick up the girls and I got a phone call from my wife to say there had been an accident.

“It was working it out from there, where is it? How can I get there? How bad is it? It was a very very uncertain few moments.

“I was able to park about a mile up from the site and I ran the rest of the way to get there as quick as possible.”

Mr Currie said he is really relieved that the girls walked away.

The school principal, Clare Foster, said it had been a difficult and distressing experience for the pupils the wider school community.

She said the school was working closely with the Education Authority, whose trained staff in critical incident response would be supporting parents and pupils.

The MP for Strangford added pupils had been left traumatised after the crash.

Jim Shannon said the main focus was making sure the children affected were “alright”.

He told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster on Tuesday the passengers were “like a stone in a box” and described it as a “miracle” that no one was killed.

He said he understood one of the pupils had a pelvic injury.

The education minister described hearing the crash as “a parent’s worst nightmare”.

Paul Givan said a crisis response team will go to the school on Tuesday to provide support to help the pupils as “they process the emotional trauma of this as well as the physical trauma that has been inflicted on some of the children”.

“It is a miracle we’re not dealing with a fatality today,” the minister said.

Givan said Translink, as well as the police service, will be reviewing what happened.

“What is of absolute paramount importance is the safety of children as they are travelling to and from school,” he said.

He continued he wants to know how many of the pupils were wearing seatbelts.

“I’ll be wanting to have a report provided to me about this incident and making sure that if there are lessons to be learned, then action can then be taken,” he added.

In a statement, the PSNI said paramedics treated and discharged 33 people at the scene.

Firefighters used specialist cutting equipment to rescue two casualties from the bus.

Speaking to BBC News NI at Strangford College on Tuesday, Ulster Unionist Party Councillor Pete Wray said his emotions were of “relief and gratitude that everyone was okay and everyone responded so well”.