Tennessee school bus crash kills 6

A bus carrying elementary school students crashed in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Monday, killing at least six children and sending 23 people to a local hospital with injuries, authorities said.Five children were found dead on the bus after the crash, which occurred at about 4 p.m. CST (2100 GMT), and another died at a hospital, said Melydia Clewell, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County District Attorney's office.

Two hours later, rescue teams were still going through the yellow school bus, which was resting on its side, wrapped around a tree. The vehicle was nearly severed in half, Clewell said.
There are two or three children at the hospital "who could go either way," she said.
The bus normally carried 35 children, Clewell said. The students were in kindergarten through fifth grade, which would make them roughly ages 5 to 10,

The bus driver is being questioned and cooperating with investigators, the Chattanooga Police said on Twitter. Prosecutors have requested a blood sample from him, the district attorney's spokeswoman said.

According to the Chattanooga police chief Fred Fletcher .“Our hearts go out, as well as the hearts of all these people behind me, to the families, the neighborhood, the school, for all the people involved in this, we assure you we are doing everything we can,” Fletcher said.

At the state Capitol in Nashville, governor Bill Haslam called the crash “a tragic event” and offered assistance.“We’re going to do everything we can to assist in any way,” Haslam said. “It’s a sad situation anytime there’s a school bus with children involved, which there is in this case.”