Watch 123Movies. On February 28, 1958, the community of Floyd County, Kentucky experienced one of the greatest tragedies imaginable when a school bus carrying 48 students careened over an embankment and plunged into the Big Sandy River. Miraculously, 22 children survived by swimming to shore; the rest of the students, and their driver, weren't so fortunate. Over 50 years later, filmmaker Michael Crisp reflects on the accident that broke America's heart by speaking with crash survivor Martha Burchett Marsh and numerous other locals whose lives were forever affected by this heartbreaking catastrophe.