By DESIREE HUNTER
The Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A school bus carrying high school students plummeted 30 feet off an interstate overpass Monday, killing three teenage girls and injuring at least 30 other people, several critically, authorities said.
The bus ended up below the overpass, its front end crushed. Two teenage girls died at the scene, and a third died of injuries at a hospital, police said.
“It looks like the bus plunged headfirst,” police spokesman Wendell Johnson said.
Police Chief Rex Reynolds said officers were looking for a small car that apparently came close to or struck the bus, causing it to plow through the guardrail on the elevated section of I-565. More than 30 students and the driver were taken to hospitals, he said.
The bus was carrying students to the Huntsville Center for Technology, city schools spokesman Keith Ward said.
The police chief identified the students killed as Christina Collier, 18, and Nicole Ford, 17. A third, Tanesha Hill, whose age was not immediately available, died at the hospital, according to Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers.