Several passengers on board an overnight Greyhound bus that crashed into the woods near Deep River, Ont., Friday recounted being jolted from their sleep to the sounds of people screaming.

It happened on Highway 17 near Mackey Creek Road just after 4 a.m., according to Renfrew County paramedic Chief Mike Nolan and OPP.

It was raining at the time of the crash, Nolan said. The bus, which had been heading east towards Ottawa from Sudbury, crashed down an embankment about 100 metres into a wooded area.

"I just started feeling some big bumps so I woke up and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw like a white flash," said Thierry Mayrand, who was heading to Montreal through Ottawa after getting on the bus in North Bay.

"I was like 'What is that?' I started hearing people screaming, for 10 seconds the bus was bumping, bumping… I was waiting for something to stop us and destroy the bus. I was terrified."

Damage to the front windshield of a Greyhound bus carrying people from Northern Ontario to Ottawa that crashed Friday, Aug. 12. (Sharon Lefebvre)

The man driving the bus, in his 50s, suffered serious facial injuries and was taken to hospital in Deep River. A passenger in his 60s suffered minor back injuries, Nolan said.

"I was half awake, I heard everyone screaming and some woman asked the bus driver what was going on," said Elias Mitchell.

"Some guy helped me get out of the window then I started helping people off the bus. [I helped] the driver and another hurt guy get through the woods to the road."

The other 39 people on board were checked by paramedics, who found them rattled but otherwise fine, Nolan said.

Near miss of bigger trees

Passengers said they were let back into the bus to seek shelter from the rain until another bus arrived around 8 a.m.

The second bus reached Ottawa around 11:30 a.m.

Passengers check out the path the bus cleared through the woods. (Sharon Lefebvre)

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been," said passenger Andrew Buchan upon his arrival in Ottawa.

"We could have hit a lake, could have hit a ravine so it wasn't so bad. We just went into the bush. We missed all the big trees."

"When I went back and looked at where the bus went into the woods, if it was half a second [earlier] the bus would have gone right and hit some big trees, we'd have been dead," Mayrand said.

"Half a second later, a big pole — the bus would have hit that."

The highway was temporarily closed but has since reopened.

OPP and Greyhound are each investigating.

"The exact cause of the incident has not yet been determined. We are fully cooperating with the local authorities on their investigation and conducting an investigation of our own," said a Greyhound spokesperson in an email.