A bus crash early Monday killed one child and injured 45 other people, most of them children, when the driver lost control of the coach on Interstate 30 west of Benton, Arkansas State Police said.
The charter bus was carrying a youth all-star football team home from a championship game played over the weekend in Dallas. It was traveling to Memphis, Tennessee when it left the road and rolled over, police said.
During questioning, the driver told police she lost control of the vehicle, state police said in a statement.
Authorities received a call around 2:40 a.m. (3:40 ET) and found the bus on its side near the Hot Springs exit on I-30.
The children were between 8 and 10 years old and had chaperones accompanying them on the bus, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
“When troopers arrived at the scene, many of the children were already off of the bus,” Sadler said. “Some of them were stunned or had minor injuries.”
The injured were taken to hospitals in Saline and Pulaski counties. Two were airlifted, Sadler said.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, about 25 miles northeast of Benton, treated 20 patients in its emergency room, the hospital tweeted.
It does not appear that weather played a role in the crash, Sadler said.
Scott Shuttle Service of Somerville, Tennessee, operated the charter, police said.
The child’s cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, Sadler said.
