Bus Driver Hailed as Hero After Evacuating 37 Children from Burning Vehicle in Belgium

The 37 schoolchildren, aged 8 to 10, were saved by Jamal Oucham, who was taking them back from a school outing when his bus caught fire. "We had only been driving for five minutes when I heard a strange noise. I looked in the rearview mirror, but I didn’t see anything... Arrived at the intersection of the N16 with the Lodderstraat in Bornem and the Eikenvlietbaan in Puurs-Saint-Amands, I heard more noise. I looked in the rearview mirror and suddenly saw smoke coming out of the air conditioning. I could no longer see the back seats," he recounts.

Jamal quickly pulls over to the side of the road. Then he "immediately opened all the doors and asked the children to unbuckle their seatbelts and get out as quickly as possible." "Every second counted. Every second lost at that moment can cost a life," he says, adding that he "simply acted on instinct." Jamal freed each of the trapped children. "At the end, a girl had her leg stuck somewhere. So I put my jacket on her, because the plastic above us was starting to melt from the fire... Fortunately, I was able to free her," the driver details.

"Outside, the children were waiting for the ambulance. I went back one last time into the bus because the inhalers of two asthmatic girls were still inside. I managed to quickly find the backpack containing the inhaler by feeling around," explains Jamal, who adds that he tried to put out the fire, while waiting for the firefighters to arrive. But the fire had already engulfed the entire bus. The driver will be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He assures that he is doing well. Experts will examine the vehicle and determine the exact cause of the fire.

On Wednesday, the students, teachers and the principal of the Pius X school wanted to express their sincere gratitude to him. Accompanied by the driver Edmond Duka who was driving the second bus transporting the schoolchildren, Jamal was welcomed with applause and received paper flower garlands around his neck and drawings from the students, marked by this bad experience. Jamal, for his part, is "glad that everyone is doing well." "When the bus caught fire, I really felt like I had to save my own children," he assures.