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 More than 30 others were injured after the driver of a FedEx truck
lost control, crossed a divider on Interstate 5, side-swiped a car
and then smashed head-on into the tour bus around 5:30 p.m. on
Thursday, California Highway Patrol (CHP) spokeswoman Tracy Hoover
said.
Apart from the driver, the bus was carrying between 44 and 48
students and several chaperones to Humboldt State University (HSU)
for a campus tour, CHP spokeswoman Lacey Heitman said.
The crash took place near the community of Orland, 95 miles north of
Sacramento.
Five students, two chaperones and the drivers of the FedEx truck and
tour bus were killed, CHP and the university said. CNN quoted Lt.
Bill Carpenter of the CHP as saying three chaperones died, which
would put the death toll at 10.
The students, traveling from Los Angeles-area high schools, were
part of a program the university says "brings low-income and
first-generation prospective college students from the Los Angeles
and San Francisco areas to HSU's campus".
"They are traumatized, absolutely. Most of them have scratches,
cuts, burns, contusions and lacerations — a magnitude of injuries,"
Hoover said.
VICTIMS RUSHED TO HOSPITALS
Pictures from the scene showed the bus reduced to a burned-out
chassis resting sideways across the highway. Yellow tarps appeared
to be draped over bodies in the wreckage. Hoover described hunks of
twisted metal and broken glass and said flames had roared through
the vehicles.
"The big rig and the bus were both engulfed in flames. You are
talking about two vehicles that are destroyed. There is hardly
anything left of the truck," Hoover said.
About 34 people were taken by air and land ambulances to area
hospitals, CHP said. Shasta Regional Medical Center, which received
two patients, said one was in stable condition while the other was
undergoing testing and additional treatment.
Eleven people were taken to Enloe Medical Center in Chico, where two
were listed in critical condition, three in fair condition and five
in good condition, a hospital nursing supervisor said. One
survivor's condition was undetermined.
An official at Mercy Medical Center in Redding said it had treated
and released five patients.
The condition of the others was not immediately known.
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No one in the car was killed, though the driver was sent to hospital
with unspecified injuries, CHP said.
Interstate 5 was closed in both directions and was not expected to
reopen until early Friday morning.
SPRING PREVIEW EVENT
Bonnie Kourvelas, a spokeswoman for FedEx Corp, said the company was
aware of media reports that one of its trucks was involved in the
crash. The condition of the truck's driver, she said, was unknown.
"We are cooperating fully with authorities as they investigate," she
said.
Some of the students were from Manual Arts Senior High School,
Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools and Banning High School, said
Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman Tom Waldman.
Of three charter buses carrying students to Humboldt State
University, a second one from the Los Angeles area and one from the
Fresno area made it safely, the school said.
The students were to visit the campus for two days and stay in
residence halls, HSU said.
Humboldt State University President Rollin Richmond said students
from southern California had been traveling to the college campus
for a spring preview event on Friday.
"Our hearts go out to those who have been affected, and we are here
to support them, and their families, in any way possible," he said
in a written statement.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Eric Johnson in
Seattle; additional reporting by Laila Kearney in San Francisco;
editing by Tom Heneghan)
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