ORLAND —
The fiery crash that killed 10 and injured dozens of others on Interstate-5, may actually have been the second collision one charter bus was involved in Thursday.
A source inside one of the trucking companies that hauls for FedEx tells FOX40 employees were given a reason for the accident last night by their terminal operators.
The source, who wanted to remain anonymous, says he was informed that the driver of the FedEx truck, who’s suspected of causing the crash, had a fatal heart attack right before his rig crossed the interstate and slammed into the bus.
There was a picture tweeted of a Silverado Stages driver stopping to smoke a cigarette before starting students off on what would be that fateful trip.
The student who shared the shot, Harley Hoyt, is now being hailed a hero for kicking out windows to save anyone he could as a crash turned into carnage in Orland.
Calvin Aceves is another student survivor who spoke to our partners at the Sacramento Bee.
He says his bus, the third bus headed to Humbolt State University full of prospective students, was delayed twice.
The first time was at the start of the trip, with a driver running late in San Diego.
Aceves says the second delay lasted 30 minutes because of a minor collision.
FOX40 now knows thanks to Hoyt’s tweets that the driver who stopped for a smoke, was not the man behind the wheel at the time the chartered bus was hit by that fed ex truck.
There was a driver switch in Sacramento.
We were asked to leave Silverado Stage’s capitol city hub when we went looking for answers Friday.
Silverado is one of the biggest bus carriers statewide and touts its airport and tourism service throughout the Sacramento region.
The trucking source who shared with FOX40 the information about the heart attack that may have caused the FedEx driver’s truck to veer across the highway median also says his company is now encouraging employees to do more to protect their own heart health with better diets and increased exercise.
Investigators aren’t commenting about a possible heart attack and have not identified the driver.