San Clemente : 8 Dutch Hospitalized in Crash Are Improving

The eight people who remain hospitalized from Thursday’s pileup on the San Diego Freeway near the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Clemente checkpoint were improving Sunday. Hospital officials said one man was expected to fly home to the Netherlands by the end of the week.

A spokesman at Oceanside’s Tri-City Hospital said Hank van der Geld of Amsterdam would be “up on crutches” today or Tuesday. He said van der Geld had talked with his wife twice by telephone and could be on a plane “possibly by Friday or Saturday.”

Most of the victims in Thursday’s accident are members of a Dutch entertainers’ tour, and those still hospitalized are all from the Netherlands. Hobert Eitenboon and Wilma Bomsneck were in stable condition at San Clemente General Hospital, according to a nursing supervisor.

Elizabeth Bolenberg, Nebig Leeflang and Cornellis Pieters were in fair condition, according to a nursing supervisor at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego.

Rita Ooms and Laurens Beveren were listed in satisfactory condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

The accident occurred when a truck driver rammed a van, starting a five-vehicle, chain-reaction collision that killed two people and led to the death of a third person, who suffered a heart attack in the hospital the next day. A total of 22 people were injured. Truck driver Neil Adams, 33, of Campbell in Santa Clara County, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, felony drunk driving and possession of cocaine.