BENTON, Ark. (AP) - The Latest on a bus crash in Arkansas that killed a third grader from Tennessee and left more than 40 others injured (all times local):
4:25 p.m.
A former member of a Tennessee youth football program that lost a player in a pre-dawn bus crash in Arkansas says the program can keep children from being lured into a world of drugs and crime.
One child from the Orange Mound Youth Association in Memphis was killed Monday when a charter bus veered off Interstate 30 near Benton, Arkansas, and tumbled down an embankment. At least 45 other people were hurt in the crash.
Resident Carlos Morgan says youth football is important in low-income neighborhoods such as Orange Mound because it “helps keep kids out of trouble,” and “shows the kids what the world actually is like.”
The 30-year-old Morgan says he was once a player on a youth traveling squad. He says the program “gives kids opportunity and brings the community together.”
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3:30 p.m.
A trauma center says 22 of the 26 children admitted to the hospital after a charter bus crashed in Arkansas have been discharged to their families.
Officials at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock said the four remaining children are all in stable condition and are expected to fully recover from their injuries.
The children admitted to the children’s hospital are all between the ages of 9 and 13.
Surgeon in Chief and Trauma Medical Director Dr. Todd Maxson says some suffered brain and skull injuries, while others had broken bones and lacerations. Maxson says two children underwent emergency operations and are in stable condition.
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3 p.m.
A Memphis public school superintendent says a third grader from one of its charter schools was killed in a bus crash in central Arkansas.
Speaking at a news conference Monday afternoon, Aspire Public Schools superintendent Nickalous Manning did not reveal the boy’s name, but said he was “full of life, full of energy.”
At least 45 other people were injured when a charter bus plowed off an interstate and tumbled down an embankment near Benton, Arkansas, before dawn Monday.
Manning says the loss of the boy is “going to be hard to heal from.”
Bobby White, a spokesman for the Achievement School District in Memphis, said students from five of the district’s schools were in the bus that crashed.
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9:30 a.m.
Authorities say the driver of a charter bus that crashed in Arkansas, killing one child and injuring dozens of people, told authorities she lost control of the vehicle, causing it to roll off the interstate.
Arkansas State Police say the bus involved in Monday morning’s crash was owned by Scott Shuttle Service of Somerville, Tennessee.
State police say the bus was carrying a youth all-star football team that was returning home to the Memphis area after competing in a tournament over the weekend in Texas.
According to police, one child was killed and 45 people were injured. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
The wreck happened on Interstate 30 near Benton, which is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Little Rock.
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9 a.m.
Arkansas State Police say a 45 people, most of them children, have been injured in a fatal crash involving a charter bus that was carrying a youth football team from Tennessee.
Police say one child was killed in the Monday morning accident along Interstate 30 near Benton, which is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Little Rock. State police say the charter bus was traveling from Texas to Memphis, Tennessee.
State Police spokesman Bill Sadler says the injured were taken to several hospitals in Little Rock and Benton. Authorities initially said 40 people had been injured, but Sadler said later Monday that number had increased to 45.
Sadler tells Little Rock television station KATV that a child was confirmed dead on the bus. He says many of the children had cellphones and were able to contact their parents.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock says it has 24 patients from the wreck. The hospital says all of the patients are in stable condition, though details about the injures weren’t immediately available. A family center has been set up to help parents reunite with their children.
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6:35 a.m.
Authorities say one child is dead and more than 20 people are hospitalized after a charter bus crashed in Arkansas while carrying a Tennessee youth football team.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock says it received more than 20 patients following the Monday morning crash. Authorities say as many as 40 people were injured, most of them children. No information about the severity of the injuries was immediately available.
Arkansas State Police say the wreck happened along Interstate 30 near Benton, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Little Rock. State police say the charter bus was traveling from Texas to Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis TV station WMC reports that the bus was carrying a football team from the Orange Mound Youth Association in Tennessee that had played in a tournament in Dallas over the weekend. The station reports the children are elementary-school age.
State police say the bus overturned after driving off the interstate. The bus driver is being questioned by troopers
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6 a.m.
Authorities say a charter bus carrying a youth football team has crashed in Arkansas, killing one child and injuring at least 40 other people.
Arkansas State Police say the wreck happened early Monday along Interstate 30 near Benton, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Little Rock. State police say the charter bus was traveling from Texas to Memphis, Tennessee.
Police say the bus was carrying a football team that had played in a championship game in Dallas over the weekend. Police say most of the injured are children who were taken to hospitals in Little Rock and Benton.
Authorities did not immediately identify which school was involved. State police say the bus overturned after driving off the interstate. The bus driver is being questioned by troopers.
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