Northern Ireland’s Education Minister Paul Givan has said he wants assurances over the safety of children travelling to school using public transport in the region.

Mr Givan described an incident where a double-decker bus carrying 43 pupils overturned as “every parent’s worst nightmare”.

Clare Foster, principal of the school affected, Strangford Integrated College in Co Down, said it had been a “very distressing incident” for pupils.

The bus was carrying the pupils to Bangor when it crashed and ended up on its side in a field on Ballyblack Road East near Carrowdore on Monday afternoon.

Two children were rescued from the bus by firefighters using specialist cutting equipment.

Four children were taken by ambulance to hospital and more than 40 were treated in the emergency department of the Ulster Hospital.

Two remain in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mr Givan visited the college on Tuesday to offer his support.He said: “I know like many people, when we witnessed the scene, it was a shock for us all but Mrs Foster and the school have been living that experience and providing exceptional support to the families and the pupils over the past 24 hours.

“Our thoughts first and foremost are with all the families that have been impacted.

“It is a parent’s worst nightmare to get a call or to find out on social media that there has been this incident.”

Mr Givan said an investigation would now be carried out into the crash.

He added: “Where there are any lessons that need to be learnt and if there are lessons, then I want to make sure that we will learn from that.”

He added: “A lot of parents whose children use public transport will be encouraging their children to put on that seat belt, but we never expect that something like this will happen whenever your child goes onto a bus.

“So, I need to be assured that everything that should be taking place is taking place to provide safety for the transportation of 55,000 pupils across Northern Ireland every day.

“This incident will be investigated, it will be reviewed, but I need to be assured that we are providing that safe travel in our schools for those pupils and those families.

“I will be reviewing any of the safety measures that are in place for school transport and I will be asking for a report to be provided to me on that issue.”

Mrs Foster said counsellors had been providing support to pupils.

She said: “A very distressing incident for our children and young people and their parents.

“We have been working in close contact with the Education Authority last night and this morning, putting in place support around our young people and their families.

“We have had a team of counsellors in the college this morning for the young people.

“I am pleased to say, the young people have been talking through their experiences as they begin to process the trauma that they have been through.”

She added: “The children are talking, they do tend to turn naturally to their teachers that they know well.

“Everybody started their morning in their form class with their teacher and were given the opportunity to talk and to seek help.

“We have good attendance in the school today and I am pleased young people will often see their school as their safe place and somewhere they can come and engage with their teachers.

“We do, as you would expect, have some absences from young people who would ordinarily travel on that bus route.

“We sent teachers to the Ards bus station this morning to travel on those buses into school, so there would be support there.

“We will be working with those young people and their families in the days ahead who may be experiencing some trauma about getting back onto the school bus.”

An operation to remove the bus from the field continued on Tuesday, with the vehicle taken away and the road reopening in the afternoon.

The chief executive of the South Eastern health trust, Roisin Coulter, thanked the medical staff who responded to the incident on Monday.

She said: “I am really proud of everyone who went above and beyond to care for the patients who needed our help.”

Emergency department consultant Sean McGovern said: “The trust immediately implemented its own major incident plan and I would like to thank the public, especially those who were waiting in the ED (emergency department) at the time of the major incident declaration by the ambulance service, for their patience and understanding.

“I am so proud of the excellent response of all our staff who were already dealing with a very busy Monday. Our utmost priority was to treat as many patients as quickly and as safely as possible.

“We hope anyone who was injured or impacted in any way, makes a full and speedy recovery.”

Police have issued an appeal for information and witnesses to the incident.

“At around 3.45pm, a double-decker bus containing school pupils came off the Ballyblack Road East, before subsequently overturning into a nearby field,” they said.

“An investigation is under way to ascertain what happened and we are appealing to members of the public to assist us with our inquiries.

“Were you driving along the road at the time and saw what happened, or perhaps you live near to where the collision took place and have security cameras at your property that may have recorded the incident?

“Officers are particularly keen to hear from anyone with information that will assist the investigation including those with dashcam or mobile phone footage of the collision to contact us on 101. The incident number is 1117 07/10/24. You can also report online at www.psni.police.uk/makeareport.”