Lincoln, AL - Thirty three people were involved in a Greyhound bus crash. It happened around 7 a.m. on I-20 Westbound near exit 165 when a tire blew out on the bus. Most of the passengers were transported to area hospitals. Eleven people didn't suffer any injuries, but they say the experience scarred them for life.

According to passenger Robert Drake, "It was like a movie, like Final Destination or something. I just thank God that we're here."

He woke up as the tire on the bus blew and he could tell something bad was about to happen.

Drake says, "It was like ping pong everybody was just going around going bam bam bam bam bam."

According to Garcelia Thrash, "Everybody was like whoa what happened and then there was a jerk and it just slammed into the pillar and the whole left side of the bus is pretty much gone."

A large gash split open in the metal of the bus. Seats dangled over the edge and some passengers were trapped.

Passengers say State Troopers started cutting the seats out to break people out. The ones with serious injuries were rushed to the hospital, but not everyone was hurt. Eleven people escaped with hardly a scratch. As they boarded another bus they continued their journey and left the crash site behind. As bad as it was, they knew the ending to their trip could have been much worse.

Drake says, "The bus driver did a good job because if he had gone straight into the pillar he would have been gone and everyone on the front of the bus would have been gone, too"

When the bus crashed something interesting happened to it's thirty-three passengers. The group of strangers suddenly became connected in chaos. In the midst of screams, blood and twisted metal the passengers helped each other.

Thrash remembers, "When the impact hit i just fell on the floor. the guy sitting across from me started saying you ok you ok?"

A helping hand from a fellow passenger calmed Thrash and her cousin Kelsey. At age eighteen, they were the youngest on board. Navigating out of the wreckage took its toll on everyone. Not only was it physically difficult moving past broken metal and shattered glass, but there was blood, screams, raw emotion and fear.

Thrash says, "It was just horrible."

Kelsey Allen remembers, "People were screaming because they were smashed under the seat and they were trying to get somebody to help them."

And that's exactly what the eleven passengers who barely had a scratch did.

Drake says, "You saw people going out the window making sure everybody was ok."

A few miles down the interstate there was a fatal crash connected to the bus wreck. It happened around 11 am when five vehicles collided near exit 173. One person died and three were injured, including a Pell City Police Officer.

 Email To Friend