GILMER COUNTY, Ga. — One of the 43 people injured in an accident Thursday involving a tour bus vs tractor trailer accident Thursday shared her experience with Channel 2 Action News.
Authorities say the bus driver was killed and 43 people on the bus were injured in the crash. Forty-two people were taken to the hospital by ground and one by air. Georgia State Patrol says all the people on the bus have non-life-threatening injuries.
Linda Ledbetter, a Cumming councilwoman, was sitting behind the bus driver during the accident and witnessed his death.
"The lord up in heaven knows why, but for some reason I was spared and his wife was spared and we were right there with him," Ledbetter said.
The bus driver was identified as 66-year-old Richard Rees, of Marietta. The tractor trailer driver was identified as 56-year-old Charles Howard, of Concord, North Carolina.
Ledbetter says Rees didn't risk flipping the bus over and instead drove right into the tractor-trailer stopped in the middle of the road.
"I think he saved the lives of probably everybody on that bus," Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter says witnesses to the crash helped get some of the survivors to safety before first responders arrived.
Authorities say charges are pending against Howard.