A charter bus carrying a youth football team crashed and overturned in the southern US state of Arkansas early on Monday, leaving one child dead and 40 other people, mostly children, injured, police said.

The bus was returning to Memphis, Tennessee from a championship game in Dallas, Texas when it crashed west of Benton, Arkansas, the state police said.

“One child is dead and at least 40 other individuals, most of them children, are reported to be injured.

“The injured have been transported to area hospitals in Little Rock and Benton.

“The bus driver is alive and is being questioned by state troopers,” the Arkansas state police said in a Facebook post. (NAN)