CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Troopers visited the home of an activity bus driver who crashed on Interstate 77 Wednesday, injuring dozens of students from Cabarrus County.

The crash happened at about 10 a.m. on I-77 southbound at mile marker 11 near uptown Charlotte. The interstate was shut down for hours after the crash while firefighters, police, troopers and paramedics handled the scene.

Police said the bus was carrying about 30 fifth-grade students and a dozen adults from Cox Mill Elementary School to Camp Thunderbird on Lake Wylie for an overnight field trip. Two other buses were also traveling to the camp but were not involved in the crash.

An Eyewitness News crew saw state highway patrol officers entering the bus driver’s home, Tonia Crowell, Wednesday evening.

Troopers would not tell us what they discussed inside. Crowell wouldn't talk to media either. Several people came and went from her Huntersville house, including two fifth grade boys, who were on that bus.

They said a swarming bee distracted Crowell and caused the wreck.

"She thought it was all her fault, so we just came down here to see if she was okay," said Chase Stinnard.

People who live next door described Crowell as the perfect neighbor. She is on the board of the P.T.O., and works as a teacher assistant at Cox Mill Elementary.

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MEDIC said a total of 36 people were transported to Carolinas Medical Center-Main and Presbyterian Hospital. MEDIC ambulances transported the 11 most serious cases. MEDIC’s mass casualty bus took the others to the hospitals to be checked out.

The uninjured passengers were transported on a Charlotte Area Transit System bus to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters. The other two buses from Cox Mill Elementary also went to CMPD headquarters so that all the students could be reunited with their families.

Troopers said it will take at least two days before the results of their investigation into the crash are released. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities worker, Robert Brown, said he heard a bus’s horn blow and then saw the bus hit a guard rail, several signs and a utility pole before overturning. Brown said it appeared the bus was weaving on the roadway.

A nurse who saw the crash while driving in the southbound lanes said it looked like the bus was getting off the interstate onto the Brookshire Freeway when the bus driver suddenly decided it was the wrong exit and tried to swerve back onto I-77, which caused the bus driver to lose control.

Witnesses said once the bus overturned, some of the children crawled out of the emergency exits on the top of the bus. Others went out the back door and through windows.

“It was a mess,” said Tjon Graf.

The nurse said she ran over to the bus to help the children after the crash.

“I got some of the kids out. The girl that I stayed with the most, she was the one that had the two gashes to her head. She was bleeding real bad. I laid her down, put some pressure on her head, calmed her down and told her everything would be OK,” Graf said.

She said once that situation was calmed down, she moved on to check other children for injuries.

The bus driver has been suspended with pay until the investigation into the crash is completed. There’s no word on whether that driver will face charges

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In the first minutes after the crash, chaos ensued.

Some students were loaded into ambulances, and more than a dozen were taken to area hospitals in a casualty transport bus.

Parents arrived at the hospitals soon after, not sure what they’d find when they got in the emergency room.

“We got a phone call that said she was injured and was taken over to Carolinas Medical Center,” said father Derek England. “(It was) nerve-racking.”

Eyewitness News cameras caught England and Kim Irby running into the hospital, looking for their daughter.

“I don’t know if y’all saw me walk in. I was just a basket case. I was so tearful,” Irby said.

They found Kailey England within seconds.

“Gave her a little hug and kiss, seeing she was sitting up and OK,” Derek England said.

Kailey walked out of the hospital with only a few bumps and bruises.

“Everyone fell and I like hit my head somehow,” she said.

Despite the number of people taken to local hospitals, no one was seriously hurt.

“My back was hurting and my left shoulder,” said Rupesh Gudipudi.

“I’m getting better, but I’m still hurt,” said Kyle Vinton.

Vinton described the frightening experience.

“We were screaming. Many kids were very nervous. (It was) very scary,” he said.

The fifth-grader’s father said he knows what his son went through all too well. Dan Vinton was on the US Airways plane that crashed into Hudson River earlier this year. His son’s scrapes were actually worse than any injury he had.

“Now we got kind of a strange bond that we can share and talk about, right buddy?” Dan Vinton said.

Another parent of a Cox Mill Elementary student that was on the crashed bus actually saw the whole incident unfold. Renetta Darity was chaperoning the trip, and she was driving behind the bus that crashed.

“I was in my car. I was hysterical,” she said. “The bus was on two wheels rocking back and forth.”

Darity parked her car and ran straight to the wreck.

“I kept calling his name, asking if he was OK, and everyone told me he was, but I was like, ‘Where is he?’ He was in the last seat,” she said.

Tyrell Darity was OK. He got a bump on his head and a few cuts, but nothing too serious. He said everything happened really fast.

“The back of the bus slammed, and everyone went one way and everyone landed on top of each other,” he said.

While most parents and children were visibly shaken, Darity said she believes she was in worse emotional shape than the children.

“I think they were stronger than I was,” she said.

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The fifth-graders tried to be brave as they stepped off of buses and into police headquarters after Wednesday morning's bus accident.

"I thought it was a dream because I was falling asleep and I landed on my friend," said Kai Daniels.

"The bus stopped, and we were like, ‘What happened?’ And we looked over. It was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’" said Alysa Bradford.

A total of 81 students who were not hurt were brought to police headquarters to meet up with their parents. While the crash was hard for students, parents said it was just as hard for them because they didn’t know which children were on which bus.

"We didn't know what (was going on). They kept saying go here, go there. We didn't know if we went, if we would find our daughter or what," said parent Alex Bradford.

"Shear panic, what happened, how bad can it be, there are no restraints on a bus," parent Pam Bragant said she thought.

Back at the elementary school, dozens of parents showed up, frantically looking for answers. Eventually, officers escorted them from Concord to Charlotte to meet up with their children at police headquarters.

"I have to be honest, I just buried my mother and the first thing I thought, ‘Please God don't take her grandson,’" said parent and Cox Mills teacher Marie Crawley.

As Eyewitness News spoke with children, our crews asked them how they feel about riding the bus again. Their responses were similar.

"I don't want to, but probably," said Kai Daniels.