Note: In an update at 1:20 p.m., Oregon State Police report five fatalities in the crash of a charter bus near Pendleton. Personnel trained for rope rescue are on the scene to help retrieve injured people from the bank where the crash occurred.

Following is the story posted earlier by the East Oregonian:

One person is dead and many could be injured in a bus crash Sunday east of Pendleton, Oregon State Police reported. Multiple agencies are responding to the crash.

A tour bus at about 10:30 a.m. lost control on snow and ice on the westbound lanes of Interstate 84 near milepost 227. The bus crashed through a guardrail and went down an embankment. Pendleton Fire Chief Gary Woodson said there could be 30 to 40 people on the bus, which is about 70 feet over the side of the mountain.

Woodson said emergency workers are freeing people from the wreck and ambulances are rushing victims to local hospitals. He said he didn’t know how many may be injured. The air ambulance company Life Flight, which has a base at the Pendleton airport, isnt able to fly its helicopter to the mountain, Woodson said, because of the conditions. The company is flying in three planes to Pendleton, and ambulances will take victims there for transport.

State police and road crews have closed the westbound lanes for an unknown period.

This is the second fatal crash Sunday in northeast Oregon. A 69-year-old man died in a single-vehicle rollover at about 7:30 a.m. on I-84 near Stanfield. Snow and ice has made area roads slick. State police and the road department urge drivers to go slow and safe for the road conditions.