Exford Primary School student Ella Borg describes the chaotic scenes of the crash

An 11-year-old girl injured in the horror smash says students were thrown across the school bus and others were left hanging from their seatbelts.

An 11-year-old girl has recounted the horror of the moment a truck ploughed into her school bus.

Still physically shaken after Tuesday’s crash, Ella Borg, bravely described the chaotic scenes of fear and heroism.

Some students were thrown across the bus, while others were left hanging from their seatbelts, Ella revealed.

“I was on the bus going home, and the truck hit the back of the bus and it just flipped over,” she told the Herald Sun at her family’s Strathtulloh property, while being comforted by her mum, Mandy Borg.

Ella Borg, 11, with her mother Mandy. Picture: Mark Stewart

“Everyone was just screaming, my friends were in there, it was just really chaotic.

“I thought I was hallucinating, I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t.

“There were quite a few kids on the bus and a few of them got injured really badly.”

Ella said she was wearing a seatbelt which she believed stopped her from being seriously injured.

A group of tradies appeared within seconds, pulling children out of the bus and trying to calm them down and move them away from the wreckage, while emergency crews rushed to the scene.

Ella is a grade six student at Exford Primary School.

Ella puts on a brave face at Werribee Hospital.

Ella was taken to Werribee Hospital with injuries including severe bruising and said she spent the night worried for the children who were badly hurt.

Mrs Borg detailed the moment she realised her daughter may be in trouble.

Working from home she heard a commotion streets away.

“I heard a siren, and in my gut I thought something had happened,” she said.

“I ran to the top of our street, which is where she gets off the bus, and someone from the school rang and said there’d been an accident.

“I started driving but couldn’t get much further because of the traffic, so I parked my car and I ran.

“My husband and son were also running … they got a lift with the police up there.

Ella says of the crash: ‘I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t’. Picture: Mark Stewart

Relief rushed over Mrs Borg when she found her daughter at the scene, scared and upset but physically OK.

Ella was still traumatised., she said.

“She’s tired, she’s up and down. She cries every now and then thinking about how bad it was and or remembering seeing one of her friends hurt,” Mrs Borg said.

“Everyone’s really rallying around each other though, it’s a small school so obviously everybody knows everybody.”

The incident has sent shockwaves through the Exford Primary School community.

Shahid Munir, whose daughter is in year 5, said: “It’s very sad, very unfortunate.

“We feel so sorry for them because they are just kids, it’s really heartbreaking.”

Mr Munir also said he had concerns about the speed limits in the area.

“I feel this road should have less (of a speed limit) than 80kmh,” he said.

“It’s very weird, very few people care about the speed.”

Emergency crews attempt to remove schoolchildren from the wreckage after a school bus rolled in Eynesbury, West of Melbourne. Picture: 7 News

Another school mum, Jessica Hodges, said the school community had “rallied around each other” to support families.

‘We’ve created a GoFundMe page to support parents going through this,” Ms Hodges said.

“We want to help them with the financial strain, hospital visits, parking, time off work, plus the life-changing injuries these children have sustained, it’s unimaginable,” she said.

“If anyone can do anything to help these parents, we would be absolutely appreciative of it.”

Ms Hodges said the school was “fantastic” and the incident had “shaken” the community.

“This school has gone above and beyond in every way imaginable. The mums are organising for all of our kids to write some cards and letters,” she said.

“We are thinking of everyone affected by this tragedy. We will be strong and get through it as a school community.”

To provide support to the students and their families visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/exford-families

Principal relives horror of school bus crash

Exford Primary School Principal Lisa Campo has spoken for the first time since 45 pupils were involved in a serious bus crash at Eynesbury, revealing it was a member of the public who first alerted her to the horror.

“We got a call from a community member that said the bus had been in an accident. We were about to start our staff meeting and I said ‘gotta go’ and they all followed me,” Ms Campo said.

Exford Primary School Principal Lisa Campo speaks to media. Picture: Mark Stewart

“Almost the entirety of our teaching staff, some within minutes, were managing the situation at the school in terms of family calls. The majority were down at the site with us, and that was really confronting.

“I didn’t know what I was going to see, I thought I would be comforting some distressed kids involved in a minor collision. I didn’t expect to see that and hope I never see it again.”

A total 18 students on board the bus were taken to hospital and seven suffered serious injuries.

It comes as truck driver Jamie Gleeson, 49, has been charged with four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury over a tragic school bus crash.

How the crash happened.

Mr Gleeson from Balliang East was on Wednesday charged with four offences over the smash in Eynesbury.

“We were expecting you know, a fender bender, not anything more than that,” Ms Campo, who joined the school in 2008, recalled.

“And our staff just instinctively wrap their arms around the kids and provided love and support and comfort in a really, really difficult situation.

“Our staff are just are amazing and they stayed to the end last night, even though you could see that they were tired and cold and distressed, they stayed until the kids were safely away.”

Crash scene investigators continue their investigation while emergency services pick up school bags from the scene. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Ms Campo, supported by Assistant Principal Craig Wilson, thanked members of the public who stopped to assist with removing children from inside the bus.

“Some of those people were past parents of ours so they are always part of the Exford family. But to everyone who stopped to offer assistance and help comfort, with blankets, thank you you have our absolute appreciation,” she said.

Children and parents leave the scene of the crash on Tuesday evening. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Ms Campo said staff had begun preparing on how to best support children involved in the incident back to the school of just under 300 students.

“ … they’re all undeniably very distressed,” she said.

“Obviously as we move forward into supporting the kids as they start to return home or return to school, that is where our focus will be and we fully appreciate that, that you’ll allow us to be 100 per cent focused on our kids, as we usually are.

“We joked that we would have a school-wide nap at 10 o’clock. Ring a bell and everyone had to have a little rest. We’re just taking it easy today and supporting our students.

Students and families had been offered support from counsellors.

“We’ve got all of the Student Support Services team here today and I’ve offered that support to the families, and of course, there are lots of supports that we can offer as well,” Ms Campo said.