Senin, 24 Oktober 2016

Tour bus crashes into big rig in Desert Hot Springs; 13 dead, 31 others injured - Los Angeles Times

They had spent the night at a casino near the Salton Sea, so many of the passengers had fallen asleep as the USA Holiday tour bus rumbled west on the 10 Freeway on the way home to Los Angeles.

Before dawn, they were jolted awake by screams and a grinding cacophony of metal on metal.

Thirteen people were killed and 31 others injured Sunday morning when the bus crashed into a big rig truck near Palm Springs, officials said.

Federal and local investigators are probing the cause of the crash, the deadliest in California in several decades.

The bus slammed into the back of the truck's trailer, crushing the front third of the cabin. Most of those who died appeared to have been sitting toward the front of the bus. 

The company drove 68,780 miles in 2015, the most recent data available, federal records indicate.

Officials have not identified the bus driver, but his neighbors in Alhambra said his name was Elias Vides. 

For years, Vides drove buses filled with older passengers to casinos across the Southland, said Sonia Anderson, Vides' next-door neighbor. At night, he parked the tour bus on the street near his apartment. 

"I hope he survived," Anderson said, examining a photo of the wreck. "I feel for his family."  

Sunday's crash is among the deadliest in California history. 

In Chualar in 1963, 32 Mexican farm workers[3] who were in the Central Valley as part of a work visa program were killed when a freight train struck the flatbed truck they were riding on. 

In 1976, a bus carrying the Yuba City high school� �choir plunged off a freeway ramp in Martinez and crashed more than 30 feet below, killing 28 students and one teacher[4].

And in Northern California in 2014, 10 people were killed[5] when a FedEx truck veered across Interstate 5 near Orland and crashed into a bus carrying high school students from Los Angeles. 

After that c rash, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that requires buses manufactured after 2020 that carry more than 39 people to be equipped with emergency lighting that would automatically illuminate after a collision, to aid with evacuation.

The law also requires bus drivers to provide instructions to all passengers on how to use safety equipment and emergency exits before departing. 

A separate bill signed into law was drafted following a tour bus crash[6] in San Francisco's Union Square that injured 19 people. The law requires the CHP to develop protocols for working with cit ies and counties to increase the number of tour bus inspections within their jurisdictions.

Times Staff Writers Richard Winton, Doug Smith and Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.

ALSO

LAPD investigating fatal shooting at downtown apartment complex[7]

Woman's body found near Santa Barbara-area shooting range[8]

Garden Grove boy, 7, who was found with deceased father dies at hospital[9]

Masked gunman kills employee at El Monte Jack in the Box[10]


UPDATES:

6:30 p.m. This article was updated with comments from a family member of one of the crash victims.

3:20 p.m. This article was updated with comments from a doctor treating the injured. 

3:02 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele and details about the treatment of the injured.

2:52 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details the crash from the CHP.

1:40 p.m. This article was updated with comments from the bus driver's neighbor.

1:20 p.m. This article was updated with information on the National Transportation Safety Board.

12:20 p.m. This article was updated with additional details from the scene and information on other deadly bus crashes in California.

10:50 a.m. This article was updated with details on patients transported to local hospitals.

10:30 a.m. This article was updated with comments from a USA Holiday representative.

10:12 a.m. This article was updated with more details about the scene, the crash location and the bus company's previous trips.

9:51 a.m. This article was updated with more details from the scene and information on the tour bus company.

9:40 a.m. This article was updated with a revised fatality count and descriptions from the scene of the crash.

This article was originally published at 8:40 a.m. 

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