A school bus transporting 24 St. John's College seniors flipped over after it crashed into a tree on West Bay Street near Baha Mar yesterday morning.
The bus was being driven by a geography teacher who lost consciousness behind the wheel, according to police.
None of the passengers received life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Frantic parents swarmed the scene of the accident and Doctors Hospital's Emergency Room in hopes of locating their children after photos of the accident flooded social media.
Among those parents was Shirelle Goodman.
Her 17-year-old son Ethan left the hospital with a temporary neck brace on.
Though Goodman seemed a little frightened, she thanked God that her son was able to walk away from the accident "in one piece".
With tear stains still on her cheeks, the seemingly overwhelmed mother said after she heard about the accident, the moments that followed were some of the most horrific and emotional of her life.
"I was sitting in [my] office and I received a call from my sister," she said.
"She was very vague. She couldn't tell me what was going on, but she asked me a lot of questions about Ethan and where he was.
"I could not think. I could not move.
"I ran into my supervisor's office and I was bawling.
"I couldn't even think straight, to be honest with you.
"I was afraid initially but my supervisor prayed for me.
"I was praying for my son myself. I didn't know what to think.
"I didn't know if he was in the bus, on the floor, under the bus or in the grass.
"When you hear about a bus rolling over, you think about the worst.
"But my first instinct was to get my son."
Arlene Johnson, a mother of three, also had a 17-year-old son on the bus.
She did not say much but her facial expression showed only worry and fear.
"I thought of death," she said as she looked into her son's eyes.
"That was the first thing that ran through my mind when I saw that yellow tape on the scene.
"I thought my child was dead.
"But I thank God that he is alive and everything is OK."
Her son, Anton, suffered a minor lip injury.
Outside the hospital, he told The Nassau Guardian that as the bus flipped, he saw his life flash before his eyes.
"I was listening to music and when I looked up I noticed we started flipping over and we hit a tree," he said.
"I am still traumatized and scared.
"I thought I was going to die.
"I was terrified."
Lindsay Thompson, of Bahamas Information Services, said the news of the accident nearly caused her to faint.
She, too, received pictures of the overturned school bus via social media.
Watching paramedics stand over her son, William, as he lay on the ground near the bus had her heart racing.
"When you get that message that there is an accident involving your child, worst-case scenario comes to mind," Thompson said.
"There were no details, so you're not thinking about the gravity of it or what you're going to see when you get there.
"I was driving there and a police [officer] stopped me and showed me where to park.
"It felt like it took forever for me to get to that scene.
"As soon as I saw the bus I felt my legs buckle.
"I thought I was going to fall out."
Thompson said a few paramedics stood over William.
As she called out to her son, he raised a single finger to let her know that he had heard her voice.
He and others were transported to hospital via ambulance and volunteer buses.
Superintendent Craig Stubbs, head of the Traffic Division, said according to initial reports, speeding was not what caused the accident.
"Shortly after 9 a.m. this morning, we received a report of an accident involving a bus of school kids that had collided with a tree," he said.
"It happened on West Bay Street near the Baha Mar Boulevard roundabout.
"Responding officers from the Cable Beach Police Station and Road Traffic met a bus that had flipped on its left side in the southern side of the east bound lane of the dual carriageway.
"There were a number of students.
"Some were standing and some were lying down on the sidewalk.
"There were noticeable bruises on some of them.
"The driver told us that he had some medical difficulties, and as a result he was only made aware of the accident after it had occurred.
"He said he felt dizzy and decided that he would turn the bus around.
"However he lost consciousness and lost control of the vehicle."
Stubbs said the students were on their way to a field trip for a geography class when the accident occurred.
The Nassau Guardian made several attempts to speak to school officials but each attempt was unsuccessful.
In a press statement issued yesterday evening, Doctors Hospital said the first of 23 patients began arriving at the emergency room shortly after 11 a.m. and by 3 p.m. all but four patients were treated and discharged.
"The injuries sustained were neither life nor limb-threatening," the statement said.
"The four admissions were mainly for observations."
The driver was in stable condition, according to police.

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