One dead, dozens injured after school bus plunges to ravine in U.S. Alabama

Local authorities confirmed Tuesday that one person was killed, and dozens more injured in a school-chartered bus accident in the U.S. state of Alabama.

The incident took place in Baldwin County, near the state of Florida, where a bus carrying dozens of students went off road on the Interstate 10 and plunged in into a 35 feet (10.6 meters) ravine.

A charter bus sits in a ravine after a deadly crash on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Loxley, Ala. The bus carrying Texas high school band members home from Disney World plunged into the ravine before dawn Tuesday. [Photo: AP/Dan Anderson]

Baldwin County Sheriff's office confirmed that the driver of the bus has died and the injured students, one of which in critical condition and five in serious condition, have been taken to nearby hospitals.

The bus was reportedly carrying a group of students back to Channelview High School near Houston, Texas after their visit to Disney World in Florida.

According to first responders, the bus, carrying 45 people, veered off road before crossing a bridge and crashed down the ravine.

Rescue crews work at the scene of a deadly charter bus crash on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Loxley, Ala. [Photo: AP/Dan Anderson]

The company offering the bus service was First Class Tours, a Houston-based company that runs 58 buses and employs 94 drivers.

According to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the company has been inspected 276 times and has been given 20 violation warnings.

The company has saw four crashes in the past two years, causing one fatality.

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration said between 2006 and 2015 there have been 1,172 "school transportation related" crashes, leading to 1,313 deaths.