NTSB releases information on deadly head-on Highway 99 bus crash that killed 6
Federal transportation officials have released new information about a deadly January crash between a truck and a TRAX bus that killed six people in Tehama County.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a public docket Tuesday that includes a preliminary report, interviews, telephone records and driver records related to the fatal Jan. 14 head-on collision between a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and a Tehama Rural Area eXpress transit bus on Highway 99 near Corning.
The 41-year-old driver of the truck, the 50-year-old transit bus driver and four of the bus passengers were killed in the head-on crash just after 10 a.m. on Jan. 14. Investigators said the pickup crossed the highway’s center line near Sonoma Avenue in Corning and collided with the passenger bus.
The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office identified the six victims as Oscar Casas Carrillo, 41, of Corning; Trena Kay Kain, also known as Trena Darrow, 62, of Corning; Kelly Margaret Langstaff, 50, of Red Bluff; Casandra Ann Moreno, 42, of Red Bluff; John Douglas Perry, 72, of Chico; and Christina Sue Whittemore, 41, of Corning.
The impact caused a fire that engulfed the county bus, the NTSB said. One bus passenger survived the crash and was airlifted to a hospital.
NTSB investigators found the transit operator had a clean driving record and that the transit bus had undergone scheduled 45- and 90-day inspections and maintenance in December 2025, as well as a routine 3,000-mile inspection on Jan. 13, the day before the fatal crash.
The investigation remains ongoing and a final report isn’t expected until early 2027.
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