This is a truly bizarre story about the phenomenon of The New York Times publishing short blurbs every time a bus plunged off a cliff anywhere in the world, and why they don't do it anymore.

http://www.slate.com/id/2152895/nav/tap1/

o'doyle rules

there was a bus plunge, albeit off a bridge, in alabama yesterday

Yeah, but that was in America. That's makes it actual news.

always naysaying, punkdavid. always naysaying.

Not really.

anyway, the news anchor specifically used the verb "plunged" a couple times, which reminded me of this thread.

yeah that was just a few miles from where i work

i read about this in the new york times.

i didn't read anything on it today...i'm still wondering what happened with the driver of the car...last i heard he was in custody...not sure exactly why though

This Alabama story is going to completely Fubar the NYT's 'bus plunge' average.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/us/21 ... ref=slogin

Bus Plunges, Killing 3 Alabama Students

ATLANTA, Nov. 20 — A school bus plunged nearly 40 feet off a highway overpass in Huntsville, Ala., on Monday and crashed nose-first into the ground, killing three students and sending 11 others to the intensive care unit, officials said.

The damaged bus sitting below Interstate 565 in Huntsville, Ala.

“It appears a small compact car also being driven by a student cut in front of, or got too close to, the bus,” said Rex Reynolds, chief of the Huntsville Police Department.

Chief Reynolds said the driver of the car, a young man, was in custody and being interviewed, but he would not release his name or age.

A team from the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the accident.

Two high school students, Nicole Ford, 17, and Christine Collier, 18, died at the scene. A third girl, Tanesha Hill, died at Huntsville Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said. Ms. Hill’s age was not immediately available.

The students were traveling between Lee High School and the Center for Technology, where students from six local high schools take classes in vocational skills.

It is a daily trip for most of the students on the bus, and it typically takes 10 to 15 minutes, said Keith Ward, a spokesman for the Huntsville schools.

At least two students were in very critical condition Monday night, and about 30 others, including the bus driver, had been transported to the hospital with injuries that included head wounds, compound fractures and internal bleeding, said Dr. Sherrie Squyres, medical director of the emergency room at Huntsville Hospital.

The scene of the accident was “just a horrendous sight,” said Eddie Turner, the acting principal of the Center for Technology, who went to the scene after he learned of the accident. “A lot of emergency people were working feverishly to triage and transport the kids.”

Many of the students had no identification, making it difficult for emergency personnel to inform parents who went to the hospital for news.

“I have been in shock all day,” said Mary Fletcher, a neighbor and distant relative of the Ford family in Huntsville. “I have kids and grandkids, and this is heartbreaking.”

Ms. Ford was taking classes so she could work with handicapped and elderly people as a health aide, said her father, Calvin Fletcher.

Ms. Ford had been partially paralyzed and lost some eyesight in 2002 after she was shot in the face. Her estranged boyfriend, the father of her 4-year-old son, was charged in the shooting.

There was no indication that the shooting and the bus accident were connected, Chief Reynolds said.

Mr. Fletcher said he had tried for years to find justice in the shooting of his daughter. The case against the former boyfriend, Darius M. Bedford, was dismissed this year by the Alabama Supreme Court after a judge ruled that the jury had been improperly selected.

Mr. Fletcher said his daughter’s death was almost too much to bear. “All I know is that the Lord do what he want to do,” he said, his voice breaking.

I never knew bus plunge blurbs were considered a genre.