A FedEx semi-trailer truck crossed a freeway median in California and slammed into a bus carrying high school students on a visit to a college. At least nine people were killed in the fiery crash, authorities said.
California Highway Patrol dispatchers said the drivers of the tractor-trailer and bus were among the dead, along with seven other people who were riding on the bus.
The crash happened a little after 5.30pm on Thursday on the Interstate 5 route near Orland, a small city about 100 miles north of Sacramento.
The bus was one of two that the admissions office at Humboldt State University had chartered to bring prospective students from California to tour the Arcata campus, said Humboldt’s vice-president of administrative affairs, Joyce Lopes.
University police were trying to determine which school districts the students were from.
A police dispatcher said the vehicles had been on opposite sides of the freeway when the truck crossed the median and slammed into the bus, causing an explosion and fire.
A first responder who helped set up a triage at the scene said 36 or 37 people, mostly teenagers, received injuries ranging from severe to minor burns, broken legs and noses and head lacerations.
Nine people were taken to hospital in Chico, authorities said. Another five were taken to a medical centre in Redding in fair condition.
FedEx said its “thoughts and prayers” were with everyone involved in the accident and it was co-operating fully with authorities.