Investigators found no sign that a FedEx tractor-trailer braked before hitting a college-tour bus carrying high school students from the Los Angeles area, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said Saturday.
The FedEx truck departed the southbound lane at a 10-degree angle from its trajectory, the spokesman said, running over the 58-foot-wide median and onto the nortbound lane -- but leaving no tire marks behind.
The NTSB's Mark Rosekind said the pre-impact tire marks from the bus stretched for 145 feet as the truck hurtled into its path. The marks show the bus was steered to the right, he said.
The bus was a 2014 model that had only been in service for about a month, Rosekind said.
Ten people lost their lives in the crash Thursday on Interstate 5 north of Sacramento, including both drivers. Five of the victims in the crash were teenage students en route to a college recruitment event at Humboldt State University.
Rosekind said that some victims on the bus were ejected.
The first car struck by the FedEx truck was a Nissan Altima, Rosekind said. The driver of that car told investigators she saw flames coming from the truck cab prior to the crash.
“The driver (of the Nissan) did report seeing flames that were coming out from the truck tractor cab prior to the crash as it was coming across the median,” Rosekind said at the news conference Saturday.