SAN ANTONIO -- A worried mother feared her daughter was dead after a horrifying bus crash Thursday afternoon. Mari Villarreal says her daughter, 46-year-old Velma Pena, was working as a bus monitor when the bus plunged off Interstate 37 near Commerce St.
"I just thought my daughter was gone. I was in shock," Villarreal said. She saw the bus crash video on the news and frantically rushed to University Hospital after she received a phone call about the accident.
"I just went haywire. I didn't know what to do, thinking about it. I didn't know what to expect from this," she said. "Thank God, I know it could have been something worse, real ugly."
She said her daughter suffered a broken ankle and serious bruises but was in stable condition.
"She just opened her eyes and told me she thought she was going to die," Villarreal said.
Pena is married and has four children and "loves" her job, she said.
News 4 WOAI spoke to a relative of the 7-year-old boy who was on the bus when it crashed. The relative said he suffered some cuts on his face but was undergoing tests to make sure he didn't have any serious injuries.
