School Bus Death Toll at 20; Probe Begins

Investigators on Friday examined a delivery truck to see if its brakes failed before it rammed a crowded school bus into a water-filled pit, while the death toll from the accident rose to 20.

At least 63 people were injured when the bus tumbled into the 40-foot pit Thursday. Two students and the bus driver, Gilberto Pena, 46, remained in critical condition.

Fifteen-year-old Yesenia Perez of Mission suffered cardiac arrest Friday, bringing the death toll to 20, a hospital spokeswoman said. Like many students who were trapped in the overturned and sunken bus, the girl inhaled a great deal of water, Mission General spokeswoman Linda Thayer said.

Ten National Transportation Safety Board inspectors on Friday began inspecting the bus and the delivery truck.

“One of the things we will be looking at is the (truck’s) braking system,” safety board member Lee V. Dickinson said.

And at the site of the accident, a wreath of blue and white flowers fluttered in the wind Friday as streams of motorists drove by, some stopping to mourn.

“You can only do so much,” said firefighter Raul Garcia, looking into the pit where the day before he had helped to rescue dozens of students and recover the bodies of others.

He and a few other men had propped up the four-foot wreath of carnations at the edge of the pit. “On behalf of the Alton Volunteer Fire Department,” its banner read.

In the small south Texas towns of Alton and Mission, many drove with their headlights on as a sign of mourning. Flags were at half-staff.

Funerals for some of the students were conducted Friday afternoon, followed by a community memorial service in the evening.

“The whole town is crying with the relatives of those who died,” said Father Frank Gomez, pastor of San Martin de Porres Catholic Church, where some victims attended Mass.

Alton, a town of 3,700 about 15 miles from the Mexico border, is part of the Mission School District.

“It’s very quiet here,” said Dina Chapa, Mission High School assistant principal. “What we’re doing right now is collecting the (victims’) personal belongings from lockers and . . . giving out information, finding out when the funerals are for the students.”