A charter bus carrying a youth football team from Tennessee crashed early morning Monday in central Arkansas, killing one child and injuring at least 40 other people, according to authorities.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock says it received more than 20 patients following the crash. Authorities say most of those injured were children.
BREAKING: 1 child is dead and 40 others are injured after a Memphis youth football team bus crash. Arkansas state police say the bus was on I-30, West of Benton, when it left the roadway and overturned. The bus driver is being questioned by state troopers. @FOX13Memphis pic.twitter.com/yXtWlZSLwK
— Alexa Lorenzo (@ALorenzoTV) December 3, 2018
Arkansas State Police said the wreck happened along Interstate 30 near Benton, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Little Rock, as the bus carried the team from Texas to Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis TV station WMC reports that the football team was from the Orange Mound Youth Association in Tennessee and had played in a tournament in Dallas over the weekend. The TV station reports the children are elementary-school age.
Police said most of the injured are children who were taken to hospitals in Little Rock and Benton. At this time, no information about the severity of the injuries was immediately made available.
State police said the bus overturned after driving off the interstate. The bus driver is being questioned by troopers.
Orange Mound is a historically black neighborhood in southeast Memphis. The community comes together around its youth football teams, where kids train to be part of the highly competitive Melrose High School squad.
The community was created for and by African-Americans after the Civil War, and black-owned businesses flourished there until desegregation enabled residents to live elsewhere. Chronic disinvestment brought widespread crime and poverty.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.