A BUS driver has told how he and a six-year-old schoolboy were just ‘millimetres’ from death in a freak incident on Wednesday.
Brendan McGee was dropping home children, aged between six and 12, from An Leanbh Iosa National School in Carrigans when a plank of wood crashed through the window of his bus – narrowly missing the driver and a six-year-old boy.
McGee was stopped at the roadside at Garshuey, between the border villages of Killea and Newtowncunningham, when the wooden plank and a ladder flew off a passing trailer.
“It is just a miracle,” McGee said.
“That plank could have killed either me or one of the children and that’s not an exaggeration.
“The plank of wood was so close to my head. It came in just above the sun visor. The plank was millimetres from my head.
“One minute I’m just sitting there waiting on traffic to pass and then there is this explosion.
“Something must have made me duck. Where it came in and hit the roof, I either ducked or was reclined in the seat. Otherwise, it would have smashed me in the head.”
The plank narrowly missed the head of a schoolboy in the seat behind McGee.
The driver, who has been carrying out the same school run for 30 years, said: “If that had been a bigger person on the seat, the plank would have hit him.
“The wee boy is only six and was sitting right behind me. He said to me: ‘Brendan, I saw it coming and I was trying to tell you.’ He couldn’t get the words out. It was just a split second.
“It’s only later on that you think what could have happened. It was so scary.
“It was all a blur. You hear of out-of-body experiences and about watching things happen. I’d never have believed stuff like that – but that’s exactly what happened.”
The ladder pierced the top of McGee’s Ford Transit minibus while the horrified kids – four boys and a girl – watched the plank career through the window.
McGee said: “The children were showered with glass.
“The glass went right to the back of the bus. They were in total shock. You could see that by their wee faces.”
The plank and ladder were held down by only a bungee cord and, with high winds in the area, came loose.
McGee said: “The load wasn’t tied down properly. Another man traveling behind the van saw the plank was moving, but he didn’t get the driver’s attention.
“I had just pulled in to drop off a wee boy and had the hazard lights on the bus.
“I saw the van coming but I didn’t know he had a trailer on. I just heard a bang and I wasn’t sure what had happened.”
The children were all back at school yesterday and McGee was back at the wheel.
He said: “I must admit, I was a wee bit on edge.
“People have been saying to me that someone must have been looking down on us – and they’re absolutely right. If you tried to recreate that, it would be impossible.
“It’s only when you think of what could have happened that you begin to realise how lucky we were.”
