‘We Were Spared’ Pastor Says after All Survive Dangerous Church Bus Crash

A bus carrying 12 passengers, many of them teenagers, overturned on a highway in Tennessee over the weekend after the vehicle lost control in the heavy wind and rain. Everyone survived. 

The driver, Pastor Joshua Clark from Parrans Chapel Baptist in Bolivar, Tennessee thanked God that nothing worse happened. 

“We were spared. Could’ve been a lot worse. Could’ve been a lot worse,” Clark said to WSMV New 4. “We’re all here. We’re all safe, so praise the Lord.” 

Eight juveniles were taken to the hospital after the crash, but there were no serious injuries other than one student who needed eight staples to treat a cut on his head.    

“I was responsible for 11 other people on that bus and I felt that weight of responsibility,” Clark said. 

The group was returning from an event in Chattanooga on Saturday, driving a bus borrowed from their sister church, Dixie Hills Baptist Church. 

“Right as we were trying to slow down, a big gust of wind [hit] and started pushing us. Rain, lots of rain came. It caused us to hydroplane as we tried to correct from the wind and that’s when all the sliding started,” said Clark, describing the event. 

“We crawled out of the top hatch of the top of the bus,” he said after the bus had rolled onto a median, and Clark had to force his way out of the bus, coming close to being trapped by luggage and an ice chest, wrote the Christian Post. 

Parrans Chapel Baptist released a statement explaining that the accident was unavoidable. 

“The accident was weather related. Despite all efforts to drive safely it unfortunately could not have been avoided. Thankfully, the Lord’s hand protected all the passengers and all walked away without any major injuries and were released after being evaluated at two different hospitals. We did borrow this particular bus from a sister church because we needed a second one. The one involved in the accident were carrying the boys. They were on their way home from a youth event in Chattanooga."

Photo courtesy: Pixabay