Crashed California bus carried families’ hopes for future

ORLAND, Calif. – It was a busload of opportunity: young, low-income, motivated students, destined to become the first in their families to go to college, journeying from the concrete sprawl of Los Angeles to a remote redwood campus 650 miles north.

Those dreams shattered for some Thursday in an explosive freeway collision that left 10 dead – students, chaperones and both drivers – and dozens hospitalized.

Desperate families awaited word about loved ones Friday, while investigators tried to figure out why a southbound FedEx big rig swerved across the grassy divide of the freeway before sideswiping a car and slamming into the tour bus, which burst into flames.

The Serrato family, whose identical twin 17-year-old daughters set off on the adventure on separate buses Thursday, had a panicked, sleepless night. Marisol made it to their destination, Humboldt State University, but there was no word from Marisa, who had been aboard the now-gutted bus.

Friday morning when a sheriff’s deputy asked for Marisa’s dental records – a grim request made to several families – 23-year-old brother Miguel Serrato said his family was “getting a little bit scared.” His mother booked a flight north.

Humboldt alumnus Michael Myvett, 29, and his fiancee, Mathison Haywood, who were chaperones, also were killed. Myvett was a therapist at an autism treatment center.

The bus was among three Humboldt had chartered as part of its two-day Preview Plus program to bring prospective students to tour the Arcata campus, according to university officials. Before launching the event Friday, university Vice President Peg Blake’s voice broke as she asked a crowded theater for a moment of silence in honor of everyone affected by the accident.

Most survivors were injured, some with critical burns or broken limbs.