The horrific crash between a FedEx tractor trailer and a busload of high school seniors headed to check out Humboldt State University in Northern California has claimed 10 lives so far, five of them students. Witnesses to the crash occuring about 100 miles north of the Sacramento area earlier this week say they saw the Federal Express truck was already on fire when it crossed the median and slammed head-on into the charter bus carrying the students and their adult chaperones. The driver of the FedEx tractor trailer was killed, as was the bus driver.
“Our knowledge of it was that (the fire) was almost immediate, the flames were visible and occupants saw flames in front of bus immediately after impact,” Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said today.
“This was a horrific collision. The impact was heard throughout the communities. People a quarter of a mile away heard this horrendous impact, and right after that impact there was a tremendous fire with very high temperatures,” he said.
Among the victims were a couple engaged to be married, one of whom worked with autistic children. One of the dead students was the twin of another student who was spared by riding on another bus. Another victim worked as a high school guidance counselor, dedicated to helping students from low-income families find the resources to help pay for college. There were a total of three buses carrying students and their chaperones to Humboldt for a visit during a program called Spring Preview Plus, designed to help low income students become the first in their families to have the chance for a college education.
On The Web:
Engaged couple among victims of California bus crash
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/12/us/california-bus-crash-victims/
