73-year-old woman steers bus to safety

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KITZINGEN, Germany, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A 73-year-old German woman said she "was shaking and had a headache" after she steered a coach bus carrying 30 people to safety when the driver collapsed.

Martha Becker said she noticed the bus carrying her and 28 other pensioners to Austria was drifting toward the edge of the road near Kitzingen, Bavaria. She said she tried to alert the 47-year-old driver, whose name wasn't reported, but realized she had collapsed, TheLocal.de reported Wednesday.

"She had a frozen stare and her face was snow-white," she said of the driver.

Becker grabbed the wheel, shoved her legs underneath the driver and slowly brought the bus to a stop.

"If I had rammed my foot on the brakes we would have all gone through the front window," she said. "It was only later that the feelings came through. I was shaking and had a headache."

Emergency crews took the driver to the hospital, where she was kept overnight for observation. The cause of her collapse wasn't reported.

Becker said a replacement bus took the 29 pensioners on to their weeklong holiday in Austria.

"Mrs. Becker could have done no more for us than what she did," said fellow passenger Achim Mockenhaupt.