UPDATE: A sixth child has died from injuries suffered in the crash, Chattanooga police say. the family has identified the child as Keonte Wilson, 8, according to The Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Earlier: Five elementary school students in Chattanooga, Tenn., were killed Monday afternoon when a school bus carrying 37 students overturned and struck a tree less than a mile from their school.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that five students from Woodmore Elementary died in the crash; 12 were hospitalized—six in critical condition. Nineteen children were treated for injuries and released.
Three of the students killed were in fourth grade, one was in first grade and another in kindergarten, Hamilton County Schools Interim Superintendent Kirk Kelly says.
Bus driver Johnthony Walker, 24, has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving, authorities say. Witnesses told police that Walker was speeding. He is in custody on $107,500 bond.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash, investigators says.
The Chattanooga Fire Department had to extricate victims who were trapped in the bus. The students who were on the bus range from kindergarten to fifth.
The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga has established a fund to help provide for the needs of those affected by the bush crash.
Video from ABC News:
