It was a surreal scene during peak afternoon traffic. 

The huge city bus was suspended on the corner of a low stone wall at the busy intersection.

A college chorale group, gathering on on the lawn for Na Himneni, a concert of church songs, said they felt the earth shake.

Windward Community College student Tony Veirra-Albao was stunned.

He and a friend had just put money in the parking meter and were walking into the church yard, when out of nowhere they heard a big noise. He said he was never more scared in his life.

"It's crazy 30 seconds later and I think we would have been hit either by the bus or by concrete," said Veirra-Albao.

The students said several people ran to help the driver, trying to console him before fire rescue crews arrived on scene.

"He was dazed. He was trying to get up. He was frantic. We told him to relax and he calmed down a little bit." said Beau Kapeliela.

Kapeliela said a man who had been sitting on the wall shortly before the bus, hit ran for his life.

"If you see movies you don’t know if the bus is going to blow up, so we were from far away making sure everything was okay," said Kaytie Swain.