Last Updated Mar 13, 2018 9:44 AM EDT
LOXLEY, Ala. — 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. According to CBS News affiliate WKRG-TV, one passenger was killed in the crash, and 12 to 20 others sustained injuries.
The bus was reportedly carrying at least 52 people.
“We have multiple injuries; the bus went down into a ravine,” said Chris Elliott, a Baldwin County commissioner who helped out at the county emergency management center following the crash. “The fire department and officers are having to rappel down into the area to get into it.”
Helicopters and ambulances took the injured to three hospitals in Mobile and Pensacola, Florida, plus a free-standing emergency room in rural Baldwin County, Elliott said.
“Everybody is being transferred to a hospital to at least be checked out,” said Elliott.
Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Major Anthony Lowery said the bus ran off the highway before dawn.
Sheriff Huey Moss Mack says Interstate 10 has been closed in both directions. Traffic has been diverted and Alabama State troopers are asking people to avoid the area.
Relatives posting on social media said the band was from the Houston area’s Channelview Independent School District.
One image showing happy band members at Disney World was posted only hours before the crash.
Channelview High School Falcon Band at Disney World.
Channelview High School Falcon Band / Facebook
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