All I know is I could have been dead," says survivor Algeron Scott.

Scott is recovering from some bruised bones and scrapes, but he's thankful it wasn't much worse.

He keeps replaying what happened Monday afternoon when a typical bus ride home from school turned tragic.

"I seen us going off the side of the road and everyone started screaming and that's when I looked up and by the time I looked up, we already done hit the tree," says Scott.

Jessica Partin was sitting behind the bus driver when the bus veered off the road.

After that she blacked out from the impact and when she woke up ...

"He [bus driver] was on top of De De, the little girl that passed away. He was on top of De De, and De De was screaming I can't breath, I can't breath so people on the bus were trying to get Mr. Kelly off De De. But they couldn't because he was so dead weight," says Partin.

The students say the bus was more crowded than usual, with not enough seats for everyone that afternoon.

"There was more than one student in every seat and people were still standing up. So apparently the bus wasn't built to for that many students," says survivor Aquasha Colley.

One of the students who was standing near the front steps was De'Sherrime Murray.

An image that will stay with Jessica Partin for the rest of her life.

"It hurts a lot because in the hospital I was going to get my cat scan done and I seen Chimera and De De. De De told me she loved me, and I told her I loved her too and that's the last time I seen De De," says Partin.

Transportation officials say the bus was equipped to hold 71 students and only 49 people were on the bus that day.

They say the bus was in no way over capacity that day.

There's still no definitive word on what caused this crash or how fast the bus was going when it ran off the road.

Bus driver Tim Kelly has been driving for Gadsden County Schools for almost 14 years and he's now recovering in the hospital.

Law enforcement on scene speculated that he suffered some kind of medical emergency behind the wheel.

But right now there's no confirmation of that.