SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

School Bus Accident Update
"A lot of noise, a lot of screeching, a lot of screaming"
April 24, 2007

There is more news on the school bus crash on the Seward Highway that killed a 24-year-old Anchorage man and hurt a bus driver. The 20 fifth graders aboard that bus are still recovering from the shock.

CBS 11 News had a chance to sit down and talk with the bus driver and a teacher who were aboard the bus. The Snowshoe Elementary School fifth graders aboard that bus are still in shock. One child had his eye badly cut, another suffered a broken finger.

Traumatizing as it all was, they know it could have been a lot worse.

A little after 10 Saturday night, 20 fifth graders and seven adults were returning to Wasilla from a field trip in Homer when a pickup truck crossed the median into oncoming cars and crashed into the school bus.

The pickup truck driver was killed almost instantly. Everyone who was aboard the bus says it was a nightmare.

"A lot of noise, a lot of screeching, a lot of screaming, lots of smoke, glass all over the place. Just general horrible things," said Snowshoe Elementary School teacher, Vanessa Powell.

But from the wreckage emerged a hero. Janet Sayen, the bus driver, suffered the worst injury of anyone on the bus: a broken leg. But her focus was elsewhere; it was on making sure the kids got home safely.

"A doctor came onboard and started doing the assessment. I said, 'You know, I really need to call my boss.' So he handed me my backpack so I could get my cell phone out. And then I had to get out my clipboard, because I don't know her phone number by heart. So I called her and that's when the fire department came on and took my cell phone away," said Sayen.

As a thank you, the Snowshoe Elementary fifth graders have sent Sayen flowers and cards.

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