Hero bus driver modest of deed
Published: May 9, 2005
The Fijian bus driver in California who saved 48 students, parents and teachers from a tragic accident is being modest about his heroic deed.
Sailasa Nailava said he was still being bombarded with letters and flowers of appreciation from students, parents, teachers and the Fullerton community leaders in Santa Ana.
Mr Nailava said he was grateful to all those who had commended his skillful driving and fast thinking to avoid an accident on the Santa Ana freeway.
“I was just doing my job and whatever happened that day was like a dream, it’s a miracle that we are alive and I believe it was God who saved us,” Mr Nailava said.
He believes in regularly reviewing evacuation procedures with children on every major excursion.
The trip to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana was no exception. He told the children that if something happened to him, to pull the yellow emergency-brake lever, and he showed them where to find the first-aid box.
In a combination of quick thinking, high skills, a cool head gathered from experience, plus luck, Sailasa Nailava, 48, prevented a possibly horrific accident that could have killed everyone, police said.
If it was not for Mr Nailava’s quick thinking, the police sergeant said all 48 passengers of Fern Drive Elementary School would either have died or suffered serious injuries from the strong impact of the accident. Speaking from Santa Ana yesterday, Mr Nailava said he was returning from a fieldtrip and cruising along the northbound Freeway when the accident occurred. He said the accident happened suddenly. “One minute I was driving and the next I saw the wheel of a 220-pound tour-bus flying across the centre divider at approximately 100 mph towards the bus,” Mr Nailava said.
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