1 dead when charter bus carrying high school students plunges into Alabama ravine

At least one person was killed and several others were seriously injured Tuesday when a charter bus filled with high school students plunged into a 50-foot Alabama ravine — trapping those on the mangled vehicle until rescuers could rappel down to free them.

The bus was returning to Houston, Texas, after a school trip around 5:30 a.m. when it crashed into a highway median on Interstate 10 and plunged into Cowpen Creek in Baldwin County, Sheriff Huey Hoss Mack said in a news conference.