Ten people are dead after a FedEx truck slammed into a bus full of high school students on a California highway on Thursday. The drivers of both vehicles were among the victims.
The bus was carrying students on their way to visit Humboldt State University when a FedEx truck went out of control, crossed a divider on Interstate 5 and crashed into the bus at around 5:30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET), NBC News reported.
An explosion followed and both vehicles were consumed in flames. The drivers, along with three adult chaperones and five students, were killed, according to the Associated Press. A total of 34 people were taken to the hospital, NBC News reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into the crash, which occurred near the city of Orland, 95 miles north of Sacramento.
The FedEx truck driver might have been trying to avoid another passenger car before losing control of the truck.
"There was a small white sedan in front of the truck," an investigator told the AP. "The FedEx vehicle did sideswipe the sedan before it crossed the median."
The passengers in the white sedan were not harmed.
Jonathan Gutierrez told "Today" he was on the bus taking a nap when the crash occurred.
"All of the sudden I could hear people screaming; I woke up and then came the impact." Gutierrez said. "I realized we had been in a bad accident, the entire aisle was full of smoke.
Gutierrez said students were trying to break the bus' windows to escape the fire.
"The victims were teenage kids," Jason Wyman, from the Orland Volunteer Fire department, told the AP. "A lot of them were freaked out. They were shocked. They still couldn't grasp what happened."
The bus, owned by Silverado Stages, was chartered by Humboldt State University's admission's office to bring interested students from Southern California to visit the campus, the AP reported.
