UPDATED: 8:45AM
LOXLEY, Ala. (AP) – A charter bus carrying students home to Texas from a high school band trip to Disney World plunged into an Alabama ravine early Tuesday, and numerous children were being carried by helicopters to emergency rooms.
A local official in Baldwin County, Alabama says there are multiple injuries and the ravine where the crumpled bus landed on its side is so deep that officers had to rappel down into the area to reach them. All the students were being taken to area hospitals to be checked out.
Original post:
LOXLEY, Ala. (AP) – Authorities in Alabama say a charter tour bus carrying students on a school trip from Houston, Texas, has plunged into a ravine, with multiple injuries reported.
Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Major Anthony Lowery said the bus plunged off Interstate 10 into a deep ravine Tuesday morning, and multiple helicopters are responding.
WKRG-TV is reporting that 12 to 20 people have been injured, and that officials say the bus was returning to Houston from a school trip.
WEAR-TV reports that the charter bus was carrying at least 52 people and the crash happened around 6 a.m.
Sheriff Huey Moss Mack says both lanes on the interstate have been closed. Traffic has been diverted and Alabama State troopers are asking people to avoid the area.
Bus carrying Houston students plunges into Alabama ravinehttps://t.co/JW9qvoA6Rv#hounews #buscrash pic.twitter.com/eyGmpUChQp
— Houston Public Media (@HoustonPubMedia) March 13, 2018