Four killed in Blythe bus crash were from Southern California

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An investigation is underway after four people were killed and dozens others were hospitalized after a charter bus headed west on Interstate 10 in Blythe crashed and overturned early Wednesday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A California Highway Patrol officer examines the overturned charter bus. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Steel pipes litter the roadway in Blythe, where four people were killed and dozens others were hospitalized after a charter bus headed west on Interstate 10 crashed and overturned early Wednesday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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The crash occurred on the California side of the Arizona state line, between U.S. Highway 95 and Riviera Drive next to the Colorado River. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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The bus belonged to El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express Inc., a low-cost charter service that shuttles passengers between major cities across the Southwest and connects to bus lines into Mexico, according to the company’s website. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Interstate 10, a vital thoroughfare for traffic between the two states, is expected to be closed in both directions until at least noon. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

By Veronica Rocha

May 22, 2014 2:41 PM PT

The four passengers who were killed Wednesday when their bus rolled over as it tried to avoid steel pipes that had spilled onto Interstate 10 near Arizona were from Southern California, officials said.

Riverside County coroner’s officials identified the passengers as Jessica Garcia, 30, of Chula Vista; Luz Rivera, 44, of Compton; Angel Hernandez 49, of Hacienda Heights; and 67-year-old Pablo Ramirez of Pico Rivera.

The crash occurred after a big rig jackknifed on Interstate 10 in Blythe about 2:15 a.m. when its driver reportedly tried to pass a slower vehicle and struck a center divider, causing a load of steel pipes to spill on the highway and into incoming traffic.

That set off a chain reaction of crashes that led to the bus rolling off the freeway shoulder, resulting in dozens injured and the four deaths.

The bus had departed about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday from El Paso and had been expected to arrive at 6:45 a.m. in Los Angeles.

The driver of the bus, which is part of a fleet of vehicles operated by El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express Inc., was unable to stop and safely exit the freeway to avoid the crash, the company’s president, Jerry Rosenbaum, said in a statement. The driver, who is from the Los Angeles region, was a “little bit banged up,” he told The Times.

“No one has made any allegations about the bus’s maintenance or the bus driver’s actions being contributing factors of this accident,” he said.

The low-cost transportation company has been operating across the Southwest since 1966 and is in the top third of its class of transportation companies when it comes to its driving, safety and inspection records, according to the Department of Transportation

“Our No. 1 concern is the passengers and taking care of their immediate needs,” Rosenbaum said.

The California Highway Patrol continued to investigate the crash Wednesday.