Passengers save bus from falling off bridge

Passengers stopped a chartered bus from plunging nearly 200 feet off a bridge after the driver collapsed from a heart attack.

The bus was near the top of the Sunshine Skyway bridge in St. Petersburg, Fla., when the 61-year-old driver fell out of his seat, reported the Associated Press. Passengers and authorities said the bus then slammed into the 3-foot concrete wall that prevents vehicles from falling into Tampa Bay.

Three of five passengers ran toward the front, where two of them held the wheel while another slid into the driver’s seat. They struggled to keep the bus in its lane and managed to stop it just before the highest part of the bridge.

The passengers, who were unharmed, called 911 and waited in the bus for the authorities. The driver was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died a short time later.

The bus is used to shuttle Amtrak passengers from Fort Myers to Tampa.