JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A charter bus carrying students from a Jacksonville church went up in flames as they were returning home from summer camp.
Forty-eight people from Chet's Creek Church, including middle school students, high school students and adults, were on the bus Saturday and had to be rescued. The side door of the bus wouldn't open completely because it was too close to a guardrail.
Jordan Poole, a church member, was on board and helped rescue people from the bus while on the side of I-26 near Newberry, South Carolina. He said at first it wasn't clear what the problem was and some thought it was just a flat tire.
"You don't know the bus is on fire. You just see smoke," Poole said.
After realizing the smoke was from a fire, people on board were looking for ways out. A few were able to squeeze out of the side door, but most had to be pulled out of the emergency windows.
"We also had a lot of pedestrians (sic) pull over on the side of the road to make sure we were OK," Poole said.
Eleven students were taken to the hospital to be evaluated. They were later released.
It wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire, but Poole said it may have been an electrical problem. He said the bus was having air conditioning problems.