The 911 calls to the California Highway Patrol immediately after last week's deadly crash between a FedEx truck and a college tour bus full of high schoolers were released on Thursday — and include one particularly frantic excerpt from a disoriented student.
"Hi, um, I was in a car accident. I was in a travel bus and we crashed into a FedEx truck," said the student, who sounds like he or she is crying.
When the operator asks for the location, the afraid student says, "I don't know where we are."
"We were in like a bus, like a travel bus," the student says. "We were coming from L.A. and were going all the way to Humbolt City University."
The student tells the operator how many people were on the bus, and when the operator asks if they are still on the bus, the student says, "Everyone got off the bus, the bus is on fire."
“Okay, go as far away as you can safely get, okay?" says the calm operator, as others can be heard sobbing and crying in the background.
"Okay," says the student.
What did the bus hit, the operator asks? But the student is almost too harried to say. When asked again, the student replies, "The bus hit the FedEx truck, the FedEx truck hit into us... yeah, head on."
The entire time people can be heard wailing in the background.
That was the only call released from a person involved in the wreck. Other calls were from witnesses, like one man who simply said, "It just exploded — whatever was on the freeway is on fire!"
The cause of the April 10 crash that left 10 people dead is still under investigation. Five students died, as did three adult chaperones and the drivers of the truck and chartered bus.
Earlier, the CHP said they were doing tests on similar vehicles to gain some insights into the cause of the horrific accident.
