A heroic Limerick teenager who risked her own safety to help rescue younger children after their school bus crashed into a field this week said the incident has inspired her to one day become a paramedic.
Aislinn Merrick and Luke O’Dea, both from Caherconlish explained, according to breakingnews.ie, that they were travelling to John the Baptist Community School when their school bus - with 46 students on board - was in collision with a car and left the road, Wednesday.
The crash occurred in Caherconlish, otherwise known as Connelly’s Cross, and involved a school bus and another vehicle.
Over 40 schoolchildren were on the bus at the time of the collision and twenty-four students and two adults were taken to University Hospital Limerick for treatment, though, thankfully, no one received life-threatening injuries.
Following the collision, Leaving Certificate student Aislinn, and fifth year student Luke, remained inside the wreckage to make sure their fellow students got out to safety.
She said it was “a miracle” everyone on the bus escaped with their lives.
“No one had any time to react. It just happened so quick. Everyone was disorientated and then (the bus) went straight into the ditch and toppled over. It was just chaos. It was bad. There were people screaming…but we managed to get everyone out. Some people were falling. A few people landed on top of each other. It was lucky no one got thrown out of the windows.”
Students Aislinn Merrick, 18, and Mack Ward, 14, describe this morning’s bus crash in Limerick pic.twitter.com/kiMxLzYuum
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 7, 2018
“There was a few students that were so scared they couldn't move. We had to get them out. I helped get them out through the shattered window.”
Aislinn, who was the eldest passenger on board, was the last student to leave.
“The bus driver was still there…but we couldn't move him…Luke was checking on the driver and said that an ambulance had been called.”
“It was a gift to have mobile phones with us because we were able to contact our parents as fast as possible,” she said.
She paid tribute to Luke for his rescue effort; local people who offered them shelter, refreshments, and warm blankets; as well as the “amazing” emergency service workers who treated the injured.
It sounds like Aislinn has certainly found her calling.
