A bus driver in South Carolina has been hailed a "hero" after she evacuated all 56 schoolchildren on board her bus before it burst into flames.

Teresa Stroble stayed calm when the bus she was driving in the town of Duncan started going up in flames around 7am (12pm BST) on Tuesday (9 May). She jumped into action when two children told her they saw billows of smoke and got every student off the bus in under a minute, before telling the transport officer to dial 911.

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The bus driver of seven years then led the group of children to a field while firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze.

"She did exactly what she was trained to do. She was calm," Superintendent Scott Turner of the Five Schools District told local broadcaster WSPA. "She kept the students calm. She made sure they were safe. They were her first priority. She's our hero today," he said.

In an official statement shared on Facebook, the Five Schools District wrote: "Teresa Stroble, a 7-year veteran driver and teacher assistant for our district, did exactly as she was trained and quickly and calmly evacuated all 56 students from the bus, and got them to a safe location. She is a true hero!!!"

Stroble, who also works as a teacher's assistant for the district, drove schoolchildren home at the end of the dramatic day.

"She wanted to be on the bus that afternoon to reassure them," a spokesperson for the school said.

The Duncan fire department and the South Carolina Department of Education, who own the school buses, are investigating the cause of the fire.