[Nehkara]

FedEx tractor-trailer slams into bus full of high school students, leaving 10 dead in fiery California crash

ORLAND, Calif. — A FedEx tractor-trailer crossed a grassy freeway median and slammed into a bus carrying high school students on a visit to a college, killing 10 people, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol dispatchers said the drivers of the tractor-trailer and bus were among the dead,

In addition to both drivers, the patrol says three adult chaperones and five teenage students were killed in the crash Thursday. Their identities haven’t been released.

The crash happened a little after 5:30 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 5 near Orland, a small city about 100 miles (160 kilometres) north of Sacramento.

Investigators say the truck driver might have been trying to avoid a passenger car that was also involved in the crash, which shut down north- and south-bound traffic on the freeway.

A first responder who helped set up a triage at the scene said 36 or 37 people received injuries ranging from severe to minor burns, broken legs and noses and head lacerations.

This is just an unimaginably horrible accident. My heart goes out to the families of everyone involved.