Bus Carrying Texas Students Plunges Into Alabama Ravine, 1 Dead
LOXLEY, Ala. (AP/CBSDFW.COM) - A bus carrying Texas high school band members home from a spring break trip to Disney World plunged into a ravine before dawn Tuesday in Alabama, killing one person and injuring many others.
An Alabama state trooper confirmed the person killed was the bus driver.
First responders used ropes to rappel down a 50-foot ravine in the middle of Interstate 10 to reach them, and then use equipment to cut out the victims, said Baldwin County Sheriff Huey Hoss Mack, who confirmed the fatality.
About 45 people were on board, and all of them were brought to 10 hospitals in Alabama and Florida, either by helicopter or ambulance, he said.
The bus entered the median and then plunged into the ravine at about 5:30 a.m., the sheriff said. It wasn't immediately clear why.
Rescuers used every piece of equipment on every truck to reach them, Mack said: "This is what we call an all-out."
An image of the wreckage shows the crumpled bus landed on its side, far below the pavement. The interstate was closed in both directions as the injured were flown to hospitals and a free-standing emergency room in rural Baldwin County, said Chris Elliott, a Baldwin County commissioner who helped at the county emergency management center following the crash. There were reportedly at least half-a-dozen helicopters needed to transport all the injured.
"Everybody is being transferred to a hospital to at least be checked out," said Elliott.
Channelview Independent School District spokesman Mark Kramer confirmed that the charter bus was carrying Channelview High School band members. Kramer's statement said the district had only limited details in the immediate aftermath and was in contact with law enforcement in Alabama to get more information.
An official with the bus charter company, First Class Tours of Houston, said the company was working on a statement.
One image posted on the band's Facebook page hours before the crash showed a large group posing outside Disney World.
* This is a developing story. Follow CBSDFW.com for the latest information.
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