NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The Glenn County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released the names of three victims of an April 10 bus and semi crash that occurred near Orland.
The fiery wreck on Interstate 5 – which involved a FedEx semi truck, a Nissan Altima and a tour bus carrying 43 students and three adult chaperones to a campus tour at Humboldt State – left 10 dead and 34 injured.
Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said Tuesday that autopsies have allowed officials to confirm the identity of three of the victims, whose families also have been formally notified.
The three people Jones identified are Michael Lee Myvett Jr., 29, of Los Angeles, a chaperone on the bus trip; Ismael Jimenez, age 18, a student from Inglewood; and Talalelei Feleni Lealao-Taiao, 53, of Sacramento, who was the driver of the Setra motorcoach.
Lealao-Taiao was driving the bus for Silverado Stages of San Luis Obispo, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. She had been the motorcoach's second driver on the trip, taking over in Sacramento.
On its Web site, Silverado Stages said the company mourned the loss of Lealao-Taiao, who it called a “friend, driver and valued employee.”
So far, officials have not formally identified the male driver of the FedEx semi, which crossed the 58-foot median, sideswiped the Altima and then collided head-on with the bus, causing both vehicles to burst into flames.
The NTSB said its investigators found no signs that the FedEx truck attempted to brake, and the Altima driver, Bonnie Duran of Washington state, reported seeing flames come from underneath the semi's cab before the crash.
Jones said detectives and a forensic pathologist worked through this past weekend to complete autopsies and identify the victims through dental records and x-rays.
Forensic odontologist Doctor William L. Farrell, DDS, and his Far Northern California Forensic Dental Team are continuing to work to make positive identification on the remaining victims, Jones said.
Last week, Humboldt State, which was to have hosted the students at an April 11 campus event, said that Arthur Arzola, a Humboldt State Admissions Office staffer who was accompanying the students on their trip, was among the victims, as Lake County News has reported.
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