WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A mom whose son was on one of the school buses that was traveling behind the one that crashed Thursday in Chester County, described the terrifying moments when her son told her about the fatal accident.

“You don’t send your child on a field trip and give him a hug and not expect him to come home,” said Tiffany Porterfield, a parent of an eighth-grader who was on the field trip to Charlotte Thursday.

Porterfield can’t imagine the pain one family is suffering right now, losing their 13-year-old son in a school bus crash.

The Chester County Coroner identified the victim Friday as 13-year-old Jose Maria Gonzales Linares.

“It’s hard for an adult to wrap their mind around what happened, much less a child, they saw things yesterday that no child should ever have to see,” said Porterfield.

Students from Pine Ridge Middle School in West Columbia were on a bus coming back from the NASCAR Hall of Fame when officials say the bus blew a tire in Chester County, veered off I-77, crashing into a guardrail and tipping on its side.

“I had gotten a text message from my son saying the bus is flipped over, but we’re OK,” said Porterfield. “I immediately start trying to call him, several rings, he picks up and you can hear chaos in the background, lots of yelling lots of commotion going on.”

Porterfield rushed to meet her son in the Winnsboro area where the students who weren’t injured were taken.

“It was so good to see him, and I think it’s one of those things where you’re so grateful your child is OK, but your heart is hurting so much for the ones who are not,” said Porterfield.

Chester County Emergency Management says 38 patients were transported for treatment, three of whom taken by helicopter, and the rest by ground. Patients were taken to five different hospitals: Atrium Health CMC (Charlotte), Prisma Main (Greenville, S.C.), MUSC Northeast (Columbia, S.C.), Piedmont (Rock Hill, S.C.) and MUSC Chester.

There are signs around the school showing support and a grieving community trying to pull together.

“He’s going to go back to school in a week and one of his classmates is not going to be there anymore,” said Porterfield. “You just wrap your arms around your kids and tell them that you love them and you’re going to help them try and get through it as best you can.”

Porterfield hopes in the coming days the community and the Carolinas won’t forget about the families who are continuing to struggle through this tragedy.

Lexington School District Two has set up a way to donate to help the community of Pine Ridge Middle School here.