The grandmother of a five-year-old held hostage for a week in an underground bunker in rural Alabama has said the boy is fine physically, but she fears the ordeal could stay with him the rest of his life.

Efforts to free a 5-year-old boy from a gunman in an underground bunker, where the man took him after killing the boy’s school bus driver, were shrouded in secrecy as the standoff in rural Alabama dragged on.

A grieving community is preparing to bury a driver murdered trying to protect children on his bus, as the police stand-off with an Alabama man accused of the killing and holding a five-year-old boy hostage continued.

A standoff in rural Alabama went into a second full day as police surrounded an underground bunker where authorities said a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting the driver dead.

A gunman holding a five-year-old boy hostage in a bunker continued to keep police at bay in a siege that began when he killed a school bus driver and dragged the child away.