Bus crash victims : recently engaged LA couple among dead

A couple who had been engaged for just a few months was among those killed in the fiery crash of a bus filled with prospective college students headed to Humboldt State University.

Michael Myvett had just proposed to his fiancée in Paris, France, in December, Myvett’s employer said.

“He just died,” grandmother Debra Loyd told The Associated Press, her voice cracking. “He was my grandson, the greatest grandson any grandparent could ever have.” She said she got the call from authorities in the late morning Friday, and they asked for dental records to confirm his death.

Myvett had given Haywood her engagement ring outside the Louvre on Christmas Day, said his employers at the Center for Autism and Other Disorders in Torrance. Myvett had provided therapy for autistic children for the last two years, center spokeswoman Stacey Price told AP. He was “able to connect with our kids on a level few others could, and he contributed to their wellbeing in such a positive and profound way,” the center’s operations manager Kyle Farris said in a statement.

A third chaperone killed in the crash, Humboldt State recruiter Arthur Arzola, was identified earlier Friday. Arzola, 26, of Rancho Cucamonga was pronounced dead at a Sacramento hospital, coroner’s officials said. Arzola was an admissions counselor for the Northern California university who lived and recruited students in the Los Angeles area.

Agencies/Canadajournal