School bus crashes on Garden State Parkway (PHOTOS)

EGG HARBOR TWP., N.J. - November 12, 2012 (WPVI) -- 36 students and the driver were taken to the hospital in a school bus crash that shut down part of the Garden State Parkway Monday afternoon.

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Around 3:30 p.m., the stretchers were out as paramedics rushed to help more than 30 Charter Tech High School students in Egg Harbor Township.

The students were heading home from Atlantic City to their Somers Point campus.

Some of the students who spoke with Action News say at mile marker 34 they felt a tire blow out.

"The bus started swifting back and forth and we went off the road and the bus almost flipped over," student Jarrett Jasper said.

The screams started and the bus driver, 54-year-old Christine Williams, started praying.

"We hit everything and everyone just stampeded off the bus, books were left. It was a wild scene," student Kayzie Burgos said.

"A branch almost flew and hit me in the face, but it didn't. It hit my hand, but I'm fine," student Infinity Watson said.

But a lot of parents didn't know if their children were fine.

"The police wouldn't let us get near. They just told everybody to stay back and stay away, but I'm like how am I going to stay away when my kid is in there," parent Damian Burgos said.

22 students were taken to Atlantic City Regional Medical Center where many were released Monday evening.

Infinity Watson's older sister was also on the bus. She and several others were taken to Shore Memorial in Somers Point.

"When it happened I was shocked, scared, vulnerable, nervous, everything. I just wanted to make sure they were okay," Infinity's mother Martine Watson said.

The right lane of the northbound Garden State Parkway was closed for approximately two hours.

State Police are inspecting that bus to see if a mechanical problem caused the driver to crash.

Charter Tech is a regional public school that serves four counties.

Administrators could not be reached for comment.

If you want to check the inspection status of your child's school bus, click on this link to New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission's website:

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