A neighbour has described the terrifying moments after an accident involving a school bus in Co Fermanagh.
Eight pupils were caught up in the incident near Lisbellaw on Wednesday morning. All escaped injury.
The accident happened on the Tattygare Road outside the home of David McCusker, who said he was alerted by his son.
He helped care for the children immediately after the accident.
“My cub heard the accident,” he said. “He ran in shouting ‘there’s a bus in the ditch’.
“I just wanted to make sure all the kids were safe and warm.”
The school bus left the road in icy conditions along Tattygare Road around 8am on Wednesday.
It happened on another morning of bitterly cold temperatures in Northern Ireland.
David McCusker, who came to the aid of schoolcilldren in Lisbellaw when their bus left the road in icy conditions on Wednesday morning.
“The conditions were so bad I could hardly stand up in the driveway,” said Mr McCusker. “They weren’t the sort of conditions you want to be driving in, particularly when the roads aren’t treated.
“I know the driver, most people in Lisbellaw know everyone else who lives here.
“But the road wasn’t safe and our immediate concern was to make sure the children were safe and warm after the accident so I brought them all into the house.
“It wasn’t a safe road for them to be standing around on. The driver did stay with the bus, but all the parents came to collect the kids from my house.”
Mr McCusker said rural roads are often untreated in cold weather.
“At that time of the morning, school buses are among the first out on the roads to get children to school, and this road is used by them every morning,” he added.
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“You would think children travelling along these roads would be seen as a priority when we know snow and icy conditions are coming, but the road was only salted after the accident.”
Mr McCusker said one of the mums coming to collect her children from his house had a similar experience.
“She slid off the road as well,” he said. “She had been on her way to work when she got the call that the school bus had gone off the road.
“You can imagine what the panic would have been, but she’d been told they were OK.
“She was coming here to collect them and the same thing happened, she slid off into the ditch.
“Thankfully all the children were safe and sound. But these country roads just are not safe when we get icy weather if they’re left untreated and there are no real alternatives for school buses to get to Enniskillen from our village.”
Michelle Clarkeson, whose daughter Isabelle (14) was among the passengers on the school bus, heaped praise on the bus driver and locals who came upon the scene to help the children.
She was along with many locals taking to social media to thank all who assisted at the scene.
“We really appreciated everyone’s help when we collected Isabelle from the scene, the roads were treacherous and the crash could have been so much worse,” she said.
“Just as we collected her we witnessed another car go off on the same corner just before the police showed up.
“This road is an accident waiting to happen, especially in the bad weather.”
The secondary school pupils were travelling to Mount Lourdes Grammar, St Michael’s College, Enniskillen Royal Grammar School and St Fanchea’s College.
The Education Authority said the vehicle was transporting eight post-primary pupils.
“Thankfully, no injuries were reported by either the passengers or the driver and all the children were safely transported from the scene by parents or family members,” it added.
“The PSNI was in attendance and a review of the circumstances of the incident will be undertaken.”
A DfI spokesperson said: “We were very sorry to hear the news of the school bus leaving the road near Lisbellaw on Wednesday morning and send our best wishes to all those involved.
“During times of ice and snow the Department deploys around 300 staff and a fleet of 130 gritters – working round the clock when needed, in very challenging conditions – to salt the 107 routes that make up the 7,000km of the network on the salting schedule.
“The main through routes linking towns and villages which carry more than 1,500 vehicles per day and, in exceptional circumstances, roads carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 vehicles per day are salted. The application of our policy means the road network which carries around 80% of the traffic is salted.
“Many schools are located off the main salted network on side roads and rural roads and while we appreciate the frustration of schools, parents and pupils we unfortunately do not have the resources to salt all roads where schools are located.
“That said, priority will be given to routes to school which have had to close due to inaccessibility once the primary network has been treated.
“Any extension of the salting schedule at the moment would put increasing pressure on the Department’s already challenging budget and would be at the expense of other functions delivered by the Department, many of which are also safety related.”