Investigators continue to look into the cause of a bus crash in South Carolina in which a bus driver was killed.
Southeastern High School Marching Band Director Jeff Donahue was going through a whirlwind of emotions as he came back to school on Monday.
"I just can't believe it happened,” said Donahue. “When the accident happened, all of our worlds got turned upside down."
Students in the Marching Panther band were returning from a week-long trip after performing at Disney World in Florida. Early Sunday morning, their commercial bus ran off the road along Interstate 95 in South Carolina.
"When you look at how the bus landed, the fact that it didn't roll, things could have been much worse,” added Donahue.
Donahue was asleep, but snapped awake as the bus careened into the trees. He said there was a tree on top of them, and the front of the bus was crushed.
The bus driver was pinned inside and later died at the hospital. Miraculously, there were no other life-threatening injuries.
“I'm thankful the injuries didn't get out of hand, and we returned safe,” said student Brandon Cassill.
Students finally made it home on another bus early Monday morning and were greeted with hugs and tears from their anxious families.
In South Carolina, an investigating officer found the bus driver's log book on board, writing, the "…only violation I found was it was not current and the last entry was on 5/31/13 at midnight."
Local inspectors said that raises a red flag, since the driver started the return trip on Saturday.
For graduating senior Cassill, the crash puts everything into perspective.
"I'm going to treat every moment like it's my last and stay close to my high school band family,” said Cassill.
Donahue said before the crash, the bus driver told him he was getting ready for a driver change.
The American Bus Association, representing the bus company, confirmed that information to 10TV.
They said that the driver and company were complying with all federal regulations, and the driver was well under the 10-hour driving limit.
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