Gulfport, Mississippi, sixth-grader Marley Young is being hailed as a hero for helping her schoolmates get to safety after their school bus crashed earlier this week. On the way to school on Monday morning, the bus, with 56 children on board, hit a soft spot and ended up in a ditch. Marley’s first instinct was to save her third-grade sister, so she opened the bus’s back hatch to help other kids escape as water started flooding into the bus.
Following the ordeal, family and friends praised Marley for her bravery, crediting her for taking charge after the crash. She says it was the scariest day of her life, as children were crying and upset. She and her sister were treated for minor injuries, and their mother, Elisha Webb Coker, expressed pride in her daughter’s courage and her willingness to take responsibility to help the other children on the bus.
Rescue units responded to the scene, and Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan is now working with the school district to improve bus safety protocols. He says there’ll be a collaborative effort between the fire department and the school system to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Source: WLOX