but the other kids aren’t.” That one broken sentence alone was enough to lay bare the horror behind the school bus crash that killed two students. Just behind the wrecked bus, one father ran in and started pulling children out in desperation, even though he still had no idea where his own daughter was.

Following a deadly bus crash that killed students in Tennessee, the parents of those who survived are speaking out over the horrific ordeal.

“Just the screams,” parent Xaviel Lugo told CBS affiliate WTVF. “The screams were just horrific, horrific. As soon as that thing happened and the bus went into the embankment, you hear the most screaming.”

On Friday, March 27, Lugo and his wife were in their car following behind a Kenwood Middle School bus from Clarksville, traveling to the Toyota Hub City Grand Prix Greenpower USA Race at the Jackson Rockabillys Stadium in Jackson, ABC affiliate WKRN reported.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Major Travis Plotzer later confirmed at a Friday press conference that five adults and more than 20 students were on board the school bus as it was traveling on Highway 70.

Among the students on the bus was 14-year-old Lani, Lugo’s daughter. Her father’s dash cam recorded the moment when the bus crossed over the double line and struck a dump truck.

“There was a slight curve that was coming and the bus driver didn’t navigate it right, and instead of turning just went straight,” Lugo recalled to WTVF.

Two Kenwood students were killed, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System confirmed on Facebook. They have since been identified as Zoe Davis and Arianna Pearson, PEOPLE previously reported.

“The school bus was transporting students on a field trip. Tragically, two students on the bus were killed,” the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. “Several others were injured, with multiple airlifted to trauma centers in Nashville and Memphis.”

Upon witnessing the collision from behind, Lugo told WKRN that he swerved his car out of the way of the crash debris and into a grassy area, and then parked his car.

“My wife and I jumped out the car,” he said. “She went straight for the bus, and I was calling 911 to get emergency services out as quickly as possible.”

“I wasn’t seeing [Lani] yet so I’m still taking kids out,” Lugo also told WTVF. “I was like, ‘I have to focus. Gotta get them out.’ “

Speaking with WTVF, Lani, who later emerged from the bus battered yet breathing and was later airlifted to a hospital, recalled the panic inside the vehicle as people were trying to open the exit.

Lani’s father said that his daughter saw one of the girls who died in the crash.

“I just wish she never would have experienced that,” Lugo later told WKRN.

Suzy Butler recalled to NBC affiliate WSMV the moment when she received a message from her daughter, who was one of the passengers on the bus.

“She was just in hysterics,” said Butler. “She’s like, ‘I’m OK, but Mom, the other kids aren’t. The other kids aren’t.’ ”

“The FaceTime call I’ll never, ever forget because of the wailing and the crying of the kids that I heard in the background,” Butler, who guided her daughter through the ordeal, added. “All I want to do is just like go through the phone and hold her and hug her and tell her it’s OK, but all I could do is just talk her through it. I just kept saying to her, ‘help is on the way.’”

Butler told WSMV that the students were heading to the event where an electric car they built was racing in a competition.

In a statement shared with WKRN on Monday, March 30, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed it has launched a “safety investigation” in the wake of the deadly crash.

source: People