Miracle on a School Bus: Counting God's Mercies after Bridge Disaster
"If it would have been a second later, any second before, we would have been in the water or under the pavement, because the pavement crushed another car that was in front of us."
(Minneapolis, MN)—Miraculously, dozens of children on a summer field trip on Wednesday survived the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during evening rush hour traffic. The disaster killed at least four people and injured as many as 62 others.
According to a CNN report, Kristy Jenkins, the mother of one of the children on the bus, credits staff member Jeremy Hernandez with saving her 12-year-old daughter, Nina.
"If it would have been a second later, any second before," said Hernandez, "we would have been in the water or under the pavement, because the pavement crushed another car that was in front of us." (Photo by: Marcus Peterson)
Gary Babineau, who was driving a truck in front of the bus when the collapse occurred, helped others pick up some of the children and carry them to a safe distance. He is quoted as saying that after the initial shock, he climbed out of his truck and rushed to help the kids in the school bus behind him.
"Most [of the kids] were crying pretty bad...screaming, crying...a couple of them were bleeding," he said, "We were setting them down on the bridge and telling them to run. We didn't know at the time if they could walk, and we didn't want to chance it at the time that they might have a broken bone."
Many are saying that it is also the mercy of God that more weren't killed, as that particular stretch of 35 is typically extremely congested, but because of the roadwork going on at the time the traffic was considerably less.
"That stretch of Interstate 35 is a very heavy traffic location that—thank God—was under road work," explained Dean, a local pastor. "The road work caused the usual 4 lane to be a 2 lane in one direction, so half the traffic that could have been, was on the bridge. I 35 West, is one of the main north/south inlets to downtown Minneapolis. The Minnesota Twins were just about to start their ball game, but the traffic on the bridge was only out-bound/north-bound out of downtown."
To see video footage of eyewitness testimonies, follow the link provided.
