The survivors: Students yesterday told of the horror and panic that unfolded in the minutes after their school bus crashed.
Ruairí O'Byrne (13), a student at St Patrick's College, who was discharged from hospital yesterday, said the bus had been skidding just moments before it overturned.
"It was skidding, we didn't really know what was happening. Then all of a sudden it went black . . . some people were cut . . . there was one person who was covered in blood," he said.
Amid screaming and crying, students helped each other to escape through a back window, while the bus driver kicked through the front windscreen and helped children out.
Juliann Browne (13), a student at Loreto College, said the series of events leading up to the crash happened in seconds.
"The bus driver had to swerve around to avoid one of the cars, because we were behind it. We just turned around and ended up in the opposite direction on the other side of the road. Then we toppled over."
Elizabeth Sheridan, a mother of two, said her teenage son escaped without injury from the crash, while her daughter received minor injuries.
"They recall it in stages - they remember it braking, getting out. It happened so quickly. Philip got out the back window and was very calm about it. I don't think he realised that anyone was dead. It was very shocking, you never expect that a school bus will overturn like that.
"Some are fine and others aren't - you wonder why that is."
Her son helped other teenagers to escape from the vehicle. Her daughter, who was carrying a mobile phone in her hand at the time of the crash, rang her mother almost immediately.
"She was hysterical . . . it was hard to know what was happening," Ms Sheridan said. "They knew there was some kind of impact . . . the bus skidded around and it turned over. One minute they grabbed the front of the seat, the next minute they were on their side . . . some were afraid the bus would burst into flames, because that's what they see on TV . . . I'm trying to have them talking about it, they saw more than they needed to."
Juliann Brown's mother, Violet, said families of people on the bus were slowly coming to terms with the tragedy. "It's so sad, we still can't believe what happened. We know all the families."
Ruairí O'Byrne's mother, Bernie, said: "Everyone is devastated, it's a small community, two parishes, Kentstown and Beauparc. It's just unreal, we can't comprehend what happened yet. It's a nightmare."
She said other students on the bus recalled that the bus had to swerve to avoid two cars in front and then skidded on the wet road surface.
"The bend has only been newly done, there was no grip on the road at all. I go that way a lot, it had been lashing rain. He [ the driver] would have braked and I can see how you would have easily skidded like that."
