A school bus with 70 seats that was carrying 10-year-old students returning from a zoo overturned and fell down an embankment, killing one child and injuring many more.

It is understood that the bus, which was returning from Exmoor Zoo in Barnstaple, which is west of Bristol in the UK, came off a rural road near an intersection in Wheddon Cross, when it overturned and plunged around six meters down an embankment.

Local reports suggest there were between 60 - 70 students on the bus, including many who became trapped in the wreckage.

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A large-scale emergency response was activated as local police, ambulance services and fire and rescue crews raced to the scene. Five helicopters were also deployed.

Chief Superintendent Mark Edgington from Somerset Police confirmed one child had died in the tragic event.

“We can confirm tonight that one child has sadly died,” he said on Thursday.

“A formal identification process will need to be carried out, but our thoughts and sympathies are with their family, who we are in contact with.

“A specially-trained officer will be providing them with support.”

A further 21 children were taken to hospital with injuries, with the extend of those injuries not yet revealed.

Gavin Ellis from Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service said crews carried out “multiple extractions”, describing the operation as “complex”.

“We were mobilised to a major incident of a coach that had overturned onto its roof and slid approximately 20ft down the embankment,” he said on Thursday.

“Our crews carried out a number of extractions and rescues in extremely difficult circumstances, and they also supported our ambulance colleagues with casualty treatment.

“This was a very complex and technically difficult incident for our crews to deal with, and I’m grateful for the tireless effort and actions of the crews in doing everything they could for those who were trapped and as quickly as safely as possible.”

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer shared a statement after it was confirmed that a child had died.

“A heartbreaking update on the school bus crash in Somerset,” he wrote on X.

“There are no adequate words to acknowledge the death of a child.

“All my thoughts are with their parents, family and friends, and all those affected.

“Thank you to the emergency workers who are responding at pace - I’m being kept up to date on this situation.”

Minehead Middle School had taken the year five students to Exmoor Zoo as part of its “Enrichment Week” program.