‘The FedEx truck came into us ... head on’
Calif. 911 calls released
ORLAND, Calif. — With shrieks in the background, a shocked passenger struggled to recount to an emergency dispatcher how a FedEx tractor-trailer smashed into a tour bus carrying high school students.
In other 911 calls released Thursday, motorists described explosions after the fiery wreck that left 10 people dead.
The California Highway Patrol released the recordings as investigators returned to the scene about 100 miles north of Sacramento to reconstruct aspects of the accident.
Dozens of injured students escaped through windows before the bus exploded into towering flames on the afternoon of April 10.
One student who escaped held back sobs in describing on a 911 call how the FedEx truck barreled across the median of Interstate 5 and smashed into the bus.
A dispatcher assured the student that medical help was coming and told the student to “go as far away as you can safely get” when he learned that the bus was still engulfed in flames.
Later, the dispatcher asked, “What did the bus hit?” and the student started to explain that the truck smashed into its left side. The dispatcher tried to refocus the student: “Just with one or two words, tell me what the bus hit.”
“The bus hit a FedEx truck,” the student replied. “The FedEx truck came into us.” “Was it head on?” “Yes, head on.” It was not clear whether the student was a boy or girl. None of the 911 callers was identified.
Other calls came from motorists.
“A bus just exploded,” said one woman.
“It just exploded,” said one man. “Whatever’s on the freeway is on fire.”
The bus was carrying 44 high school students from the Los Angeles area for a visit to Humboldt State University on California’s far north coast. Many stood to be the first in their families to attend college.
Five students and three adult chaperones died, along with the truck and
It just exploded. Whatever’s on the freeway is on fire.”
911 caller
bus drivers.
As the CHP released the recordings, the agency’s investigators were reconstructing how the bus driver might have reacted to the sight of the big rig, which burst out of vegetation on the freeway’s median into oncoming traffic, sideswiping a car before hitting the bus.
The truck’s data recorder was destroyed in the explosion and fire, but investigators said they may be able to recover some data about its speed and maneuvering by other forensic analysis.
Investigators are working through a 3-inch-thick stack of records including the truck’s maintenance history and its driver’s recent shifts, CHP Special Services Commander Todd Morrison said. The FedEx driver had no prior moving violations, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
It is too early to say whether mechanical failure or driver error caused the truck to careen out of control, Morrison said. That determination by the CHP, and by a parallel investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, will take months.