A Savannah science teacher is being hailed as a hero after taking control of a field-trip bus carrying 40 seventh graders when the driver collapsed.

The group was en route from Coastal Middle School to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta on Friday morning when the driver slumped in his seat.

Teacher Eric Neidlinger, who was three rows back, pulled the driver's foot from the accelerator, sat on his lap and steered the bus from the Interstate 16 median back onto the highway and into the right-side emergency lane just shy of the Canoochee River bridge outside of Metter.

The Kelly Tours bus driver was treated and released at a Candler County hospital for dehydration. Another driver was assigned, and the field trip continued.