FedEx truck crashes into bus full of low income HS students

[ClaudeSpeed1911]

 

ORLAND, Calif. (AP) — It was a busload of opportunity: young, low-income, motivated students, destined to become the first in their families to go to college, journeying from the concrete sprawl of Los Angeles to a remote redwood campus 650 miles north.

 

Those dreams shattered for some Thursday in an explosive freeway collision that left 10 dead — students, chaperones and both drivers — and dozens hospitalized.

 

 

Desperate families awaited word about loved ones Friday, while investigators tried to figure out why a southbound FedEx big rig swerved across the grassy divide of California's key artery before sideswiping a car and slamming into the tour bus, which burst into a furious blaze.

 

 

 

The Serrato family, whose identical twin 17-year-old daughters set off on the adventure on separate buses Thursday, had a panicked, sleepless night. Marisol made it to their destination, Humboldt State University, but there was no word from Marisa, who had been aboard the now-gutted bus.

 

 

 

Friday morning when a sheriff's deputy asked for Marisa's dental records, a grim request made to several families, 23-year-old brother Miguel Serrato said his family was "getting a little bit scared." His mother booked a flight north.

 

 

 

Humboldt alumni Michael Myvett, 29, and his fiancee, Mattison Haywood, who were chaperoning, also were killed. Myvett was a therapist at an autism treatment center.

 

 

 

"He just died," his grandmother Debra Loyd said, her voice breaking with emotion in the early afternoon Friday. "They have already confirmed it."

 

The bus was among three Humboldt had chartered as part of its two-day Preview Plus program to bring prospective students to tour the Arcata campus, according to university officials.

Before launching the event Friday, university Vice President Peg Blake's voice broke as she asked a crowded theater for a moment of silence in honor of everyone affected by the accident.

 

 

The CHP and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating, but warned it could take months to conclude what happened.

 

 

 

Mark Rosekind, an NTSB member, said Friday that the agency would be gathering information over the next one to two weeks. He said it will review whether the stretch of California freeway where the bus was struck should have had a barrier along the median to prevent head-on collisions.

 

 

 

In addition, Rosekind said it will determine whether a fire suppression system recommended but not mandated for buses would have made a difference in the crash.

 

 

Most survivors were injured, some with critical burns or broken limbs. Those who made it out said they scrambled through a kicked-out window.

One man, apparently an admissions counselor, was in flames and later died. Those who could sprinted, others staggered, in a desperate dash to the opposite side of Interstate 5 before the vehicle exploded.

 

 

"We knew we were in major trouble," said Steven Clavijo, a high school senior from Santa Clarita, who was trying to nap when he felt the bus shake before a loud boom.

 

 

 

After he escaped, two more explosions followed. Clavijo and other survivors watched helplessly, knowing their peers were trapped in the inferno.

 

 

 

Explosions of orange flames engulfed both vehicles, and clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky until firefighters doused the fire, leaving behind scorched black hulks of metal. Bodies were draped in blankets inside the burned-out bus.

 

Both drivers were killed, along with three adult chaperones and five teenage students, according to the California Highway Patrol, which reached the scene shortly after the 5:30 p.m. accident about 100 miles north of Sacramento. Rescuers said the bodies were mostly at the front of the bus, or outside on the ground in front of it.

 

 

 

Humboldt admissions counselor Arthur Arzola, 26, who recruited in the Los Angeles area, was among the dead. His passion for bringing kids to the university was evident on his "Meet the Counselors" webpage: Humboldt "provides all students on campus with incredible opportunities that change the world for the better."

 

 

The 44 teenagers aboard, from dozens of different Southern California high schools, were participating in a program that invites prospective low-income or first-generation college students to visit Humboldt. They were supposed to join hundreds more potential students from across California and the West for a long weekend, paired up with existing students and staying in the dorms

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http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/art...sh-5394356.php

 

 

May those who died rest in peace.

Edited April 12, 2014 by ClaudeSpeed1911

[THE GHETTO JEZUS]

I saw that on KTLA yesterday afternoon and I must say that was really unfortunate. When I saw this story on the news yesterday I realized that anything can happen at any given moment just like that incident where I witnessed a hit and run right in front of my eyes. But yea R.I.P to those who lost there lives and hopefully the friends and family to the victims will be able to get through this.

[Mr. Scratch]

Are they seriously thinking there was some kind of conspiracy here?

[ClaudeSpeed1911]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-truck-was-on-fire-before-it-hit-bus-filled-with-students-witness-says-20140412,0,4790252.story

 

 

ORLAND, Calif. -- Two witnesses said Friday that a FedEx truck was on fire before it hit a tour bus filled with high school students in Northern California, killing 10.

Bonnie and Joe Duran, whose car was hit by the big rig before it collided with the bus Thursday on Interstate 5 in Orland, told several TV stations that they saw flames coming from the truck as it crossed the center median.

“I was heading along the outside lane. And I looked over and saw the FedEx truck coming right for me and it was on fire already,” Bonnie Duran told KCBS radio.

Duran told KTLA-TV that when the truck hit the bus, there were a series of explosions.

Seems like the truck was on fire before crashing.

Edited April 12, 2014 by ClaudeSpeed1911

[GN 92]

Rest in peace

 

Very sad to see stuff like this, it happens often in my country..

[Aljohnk]

Damn, that's really unfortunate. R.I.P

[universetwisters]

Although its sad, I don't like how the article is worded, like how it goes way in depth about the people on the bus and doesn't say nothing about the truck driver itself. Traffic accidents happen all the time and whether or not the bus is full of travelers or "underprivileged, motivated teenagers" isn't too much of a concern to me.

Edited April 13, 2014 by universetwisters