MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A private school bus was involved in a serious collision with a car Friday morning in Miami-Dade County, authorities said.
Sky 10 flew over the scene of the wreck near the Tamiami Trail area, where fire trucks and ambulances blocked both lanes of Northwest 137th Avenue near Sixth Street just before 6 a.m.
Firefighters were seen using extrication tools on a car that was left with its front end smashed and burned.
According to Miami-Dade police, the driver of the school bus was coming out of a parking lot and was trying to make a right turn to head south on 137th Avenue, when it was struck by a 2001 Toyota Camry that was heading south on the roadway.
Police said the impact caused the car to cross the median and come to a rest at the guardrail.
Police said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews had to use a hydraulic tool to extricate the driver from the car.
The driver, whose identity has not been released, was taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center in critical condition.
Isidro Arbide, 71, who was driving the school bus, told Local 10 News reporter Sanela Sabovic that he was thrown from his seat when the Camry struck the bus.
"I flew away from the seat and I fell into the stairs of the bus," Arbide said. "Then I was trapped there and the bus kept on going. It was terrifying because I thought it was going to hit someone else."
Arbide said he never saw the Camry coming toward him.
"I didn't see the vehicle. If I (saw) the vehicle, I (could have gotten) away from him," he said.
Arbide said he has been a bus driver for nearly 26 years and has never been in a crash this severe. He said he is now thinking about retiring.
"I'm thinking of whether I'll keep going or not," he said.
Police said no children were on the bus at the time of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation.