Memorials for 50th anniversary of Yuba City High School bus crash: What to know
Fifty years ago, on May 21, 1976, a chartered bus carrying 51 Yuba City High School choir students and chaperones crashed off a Highway 680 offramp near Martinez, killing 29 people, including 28 students. Both communities will host memorial services to mark the anniversary of one of California’s deadliest school bus tragedies.
We presented an in-depth story recreating the accident and talked with the survivors to capture the pain of a tragedy that they will always remember if not ever fully understand. Read our full story: Survivors carry weight of deadly Yuba City choir crash 50 years later. ‘Won’t be forgotten’
The memorials
- The Martinez memorial is at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 21, near the waterfront and Ferry Point Picnic Area. The Yuba City memorial is at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 23, near Veterans Memorial Circle off Butte House Road.
The crash 50 years ago
- The bus, a 1950 Crown Coach, careened off the Marina Vista offramp in Martinez at 10:56 a.m., rode a guardrail and landed on its roof more than 20 feet below, trapping passengers inside.
- A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found a broken air compressor drivebelt caused the brakes to fail. The driver, hired about a week earlier, misread the gauges and could not locate the emergency brake.
- Contra Costa County firefighter Xon Burris, then 23, crawled alone into the crushed bus with a hydraulic rescue tool, cutting through seats one by one to reach victims. Two cranes from a nearby oil refinery ultimately lifted the bus to free those still trapped.
- The death toll was 29; 23 survived. Among the dead was chaperone Cristina Estabrook, wife of choir director Dean Estabrook, who had been following the bus in his own car.
- The crash led to safety changes for buses and drivers, including more detailed inspection processes and improved training and testing requirements.
- Responders in Martinez built the first monument for the 20th anniversary in 1996. An identical memorial in Yuba City was not built until 2011, for the 35th anniversary, because the loss remained too raw for the community to commemorate sooner.