Bus crash: Tears, prayers, fears as students, parents await word

At high schools across Southern California, there was fear, prayers and anxiety as students, teachers and parents awaited word on the fate of teenagers on the bus that crashed in Northern California Thursday night, killing 10 people.

At Norte Vista High School in Riverside, a cloud hung over students preparing for prom night as they worried about the whereabouts of classmate Marisa Serrato, whose family told reporters she has been missing since the crash.

Marisa and her twin sister Marisol, both seniors, chose to skip the dance to visit Humboldt State University, said a classmate who gave only his first name, Elmer.

PHOTOS: Deadly bus crash

“They’re smart and really dedicated,” he said. “I just hope they’re OK.” Marisa and her sister have been part of the school’s AVID program for students preparing for college since freshman year, he said. “We just don’t know if they’ve found her,” Elmer said.

“They’re just the nicest people, never doing anything wrong,” added his friend Alejandro, also a senior.

Gabriel Sanchez, a spokesman for the Green Dot organization of charter schools, said officials believe students from two of its campuses -- Ánimo Inglewood Charter High School in Inglewood and Ánimo Jackie Robinson Charter High School in South Los Angeles -- were on the bus trip but they are still trying to confirm that and find out whether the teens are safe.

“We don’t know for sure,” he said, noting that some students may sign up for the trip but not actually take it. “We are still trying to find out the information.”

Green Dot operates its own set of college tours in California and on the East Coast. But the group’s high schools did not have any say on any details of this one since it was run by Humboldt State, he said.

Two students who attend Los Angeles area high schools operated by the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools charter organization suffered minor injuries in the crash and eight others were on one of the buses not involved in the accident, according to Alliance President Judy Ivie Burton.

One of the two injured was treated overnight at a hospital and was released Friday morning, she said. Burton said she was trying to confirm the two students’ identities and their high schools but emphasized that they were heading home now.

“The damage is more emotional than anything else. They are pretty distraught,” Burton said. She said that this trip was one of many college tours that students are offered as they try to decide which campus to attend. Such trips are very important for low-income students who may be the first in their families to attend college. “For almost all, this is the first time away from home and away from our community,” she said.

Interactive: The dead and unaccounted for

Investigators combing through the wreckage and said they do not yet know what caused the driver of a FedEx truck to veer across a freeway median and hit the students’ bus head-on.

California Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Fredrick said it remained unclear whether the FedEx driver – who officials said was among those killed – had fallen asleep, if his freight truck had some type of mechanical failure or if it was involved in separate collision that preceded the fiery crash.

Fredrick said CHP investigators were being assisted by the National Transportation Safety Board, which sent a team that arrived about 10 a.m. Friday. Investigators would use “sophisticated surveying and mapping equipment,” along with 3-D diagramming, to reconstruct what led up to the crash, he said.

Fredrick said investigators would also consider roadway and weather conditions at the time. But he and others cautioned it could take up to six months for the CHP to complete its report.

“The investigation itself … is a long, tedious process,” said Ruben Leal of the CHP. “We may not have some answers for months.”