Ten people were killed, including five high school students, when a FedEx semi jumped a grassy median on Interstate 5 in northern California on April 10 and, after sideswiping a sedan, hit a bus chartered to take students from the Los Angeles area to a university, where they had been accepted, the New York Times reports.
The bus was one of three, chartered to take more than 100 high school students to Humboldt State University for a campus tour. Humboldt State, in Arcata, Calif., is about a 10-hour drive north of the Los Angeles area, where the students live. Many of them were to be the first from their families to attend college.
The university chartered the buses for incoming students to take part in a program known as “Preview Plus.” Every year, the university provides transportation and lodging for hundreds of disadvantaged Los Angeles- and San Francisco-area students, especially those from low-income families, to visit the campus.
Preview Plus has been running since the 1990s, according to Jarad Petroske, a university spokesman, who was quoted in the article. The bus crash will not prevent this weekend’s event from happening, he said.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the California Highway Patrol was investigating the crash, still, on the day after, trying to determine whether the FedEx driver had fallen asleep, experienced mechanical difficulties, or was involved in another crash prior to crossing the divider.
The LA Times also has photos from the fiery crash, here.
