Child takes wheel of school bus after driver suffers medical emergency

A pupil grabbed the wheel of his school bus when the driver suffered a medical emergency, averting a potential accident.

As the vehicle approached the Colorado River Bridge, Karson Vega stepped into the breach as his fellow students feared they would go off the road in the Texan town of La Grange.

"He was swerving and he almost hit cars," the 13-year-old told US news channel KVUE.

He added: "We were riding and I noticed he started going off the road. And then we tried to make a turn, but he ended up in the ditch a few times."

As the approached the bridge, Karson said he tried to talk to the driver to tell him to stop.

"He was about to go off it," he added. "So I took the wheel over and I stopped the bus. I didn't want to die."

At the same time, another student, Kyler Buzek, called authorities and kept his schoolmates calm, KVUE reported.

The La Grange school district superintendent, Bill Wagner, did not elaborate on the nature of the driver's medical emergency, but did say he was recovering and would undergo tests to determine whether he would be able to continue driving.

Karson's mum Amber, told The Fayette County Record that she usually picked her son up from school, but she was unable to that day.

“He wasn’t real happy about it, but I think he was on that bus for a reason,” she said.