Alabama bus crash: School coach plummets into ravine leaving one dead in horror crash
A SCHOOL BUS carrying students from Texas has plunged into a ravine in Alabama, leaving one person dead and other passengers with multiple injuries.
Alabama bus crash: Emergency services attend the scene
The bus crash happened at around 6am on Tuesday morning on Interstate 10 near the Alabama and Florida state line.
Baldwin County Sheriff's Office Major Anthony Lowery said the charter bus plunged 30 to 40 feet (nine metres) into a deep ravine at Cowpen Creek around 5:30 a.m.He confirmed that at least one person had died following the accident.
At least 12 to 20 people have been injured in the crash. No other vehichles were involved.
The bus was carrying at least 52 people, WEAR-TV reports.
An image of the wreckage shows the crumpled bus landed on its side below the highway.
A bus carrying students on a school trip from Texas, has plunged into a ravine in Alabama
Officials said that there were multiple helicopters on the scene to help the injured.
Chief Lowery said several ambulances and helicopters are now being used to evacuate passengers.
The injured have been taken to three hospitals in Mobile and Pensacola, Florida, plus a free-standing emergency room in rural Baldwin County.
Injuries range from minor to critical, and that at least one critically injured passenger was taken to the University of South Alabama Hospital, the only level one trauma centre in the region, AI.com reports.
The charter bus crashed on Interstate 10 and plunged into a deep ravine
Mike Burke, a spokesman at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, said about 20 patients had been brought to the hospital by ambulance and helicopter, "and more are on the way."
Chris Elliott, a Baldwin County commissioner said: “We have multiple injuries; the bus went down into a ravine.
"The fire department and officers are having to rappel down into the area to get into it."
Mr Elliott said: ”Everybody is being transferred to a hospital to at least be checked out.”
Several ambulances and helicopters were being used to evacuate injured passengers
Sheriff Huey Moss Mack said both lanes on the interstate have been closed.
Traffic has been diverted and Alabama State troopers are asking people to avoid the area.
The school children had been on a trip to Disney World in Florida.
The bus had been due to take the children back home to Channelview, Texas, in Houston.
Channelview Independent School District spokesman Mark Kramer confirmed that the students are band members from Channelview High School.
The cause of the accident is now under investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.