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OXFORD COUNTY – First, he heard the sound of intense braking. Then he saw a school bus crashing one field away from his rural home. He got his wife to call 911, and the pair of them raced to the scene, bracing for what they might find.

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Thursday, the husband-and-wife duo offered the most detailed picture yet of the moments after a school bus packed with an estimated 40 kids rolled over at a rural intersection south of Woodstock, sending five children to hospital and briefly setting off a panic in the community.

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“I heard braking really loud, then I looked behind me and saw (the bus) flipping over,” said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid extra attention. “I ran into the house and told (my wife) to call 911 because the bus was turned over.”

He drove to the scene. The bus had landed on its entry-door side. The man says he got the rear emergency door open and with another citizen – and his wife, who raced over after calling 911 – helped the kids out.

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“Everyone was freaking out, so I thought I had to get them out,” he said. “Once we got them off the bus, they calmed down a bit.”

The crash happened at about 8 a.m. Tuesday near the rural intersection of Dodge Line and Cuthbert Road. One child was pinned beneath the bus, police said, and was flown to London hospital while four other kids were taken to nearby hospitals. By Thursday, all five had been released and were back home, the principal of their school, Woodstock Christian School, said.

It is a remarkably positive result after an incident the man’s wife, who also wished to remain anonymous, called “the worst nightmare as a parent or grandparent.”

In a Thursday interview, she described the tense moments before the kids started exiting the bus. “Before you open the door, you have no idea. When you see the kids come out, that’s the relief.”

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In the aftermath of the crash, Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Ed Sanchuk publicly thanked the person who “came to the aid of all the children on the bus” and helped them off. He added: “We can’t thank you enough for what you did.”

But in Thursday’s interview, the woman praised the children, some of whom looked as young as four, for their poise after getting out of the bus.

“(The) reaction was amazing,” she said. “They were crying, but everyone took care of everyone.”

Woodstock Christian School’s principal, Michael Vander Kooi, told The Free Press on Thursday that the driver was also home from hospital.

It’s unclear whether the 34-year-old driver worked for a bus firm or for the school, which runs from junior kindergarten to Grade 8. They are charged under the Highway Traffic Act with careless driving causing bodily harm, police say. Their name has not yet been made public and they’re scheduled to appear in court on April 18.

bwilliams@postmedia.com

@BrianWatLFPress

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

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