Tourists Tell of Bus Breakdowns Before Fatal Accident

Passengers on a charter bus that crashed in the eastern Sierra Nevada said Saturday that the bus had broken down several times before it tumbled off a narrow mountain highway, killing one and injuring 46.

“I think they should have sent a new bus,” said passenger Hector Lopez, a businessman from Puerto Rico vacationing with his wife. “I am not a mechanic, but we should not have been on that bus.”

An Australian passenger who refused to give her name described the bus as “a problem from the word go.” She escaped with minor injuries in the accident.

Authorities confirmed Saturday that they are investigating claims by passengers that the bus had experienced transmission and overheating troubles before the accident at about 3:30 p.m. Friday. Passengers said the bus broke down Thursday en route to Las Vegas from Los Angeles and at least twice Friday before crashing 4 1/2 miles east of here. The bus had left Las Vegas on Friday morning and was headed for Mammoth Lakes.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Ray Dixon said investigators do not know if the apparent mechanical problems contributed to the accident.

“The initial suspect is overheated brakes and the bus being caught between second and third gears,” Dixon said. “All avenues are being investigated.”

Larry Paustian, a motor carrier specialist for the CHP, said investigators will not be certain what happened until they can examine all mechanical functions of the bus.

Caltrans tow trucks moved the 47-seat vehicle Saturday to a CHP storage yard in nearby Bishop. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said they would join in the investigation today.

Police said the driver, Juan Garcia Jr., 30, was not seriously injured and was staying in Bishop with his attorneys. Police said he was not available for comment.

Dixon said Garcia, who has been driving buses for 11 years, has not been charged in the accident. “There is no evidence of reckless driving and no evidence of alcohol,” Dixon said.

Officials from Allied Tours, the Los Angeles-based company that booked the charter bus, were meeting Saturday with passengers in motels and at the Northern Inyo Hospital in Bishop. Company officials would not comment on the accident.

Efforts to reach officials from Southwest Charter Lines of Phoenix, the company operating the bus, were unsuccessful.

Killed in the crash was Marguerite Finat, 60, of Marseilles, France. Authorities said at least 32 passengers remained hospitalized Saturday night in Bishop, Mammoth Lakes and Reno.

Many other passengers spent Friday night in motels or private homes in Bishop and were making plans Saturday to return home or salvage their vacations.

All the passengers were foreign tourists.

“We are going to try to take in a day at Disneyland,” said Joan Gay of Australia, who was traveling with five family members, including two grandchildren. All but one family member had been released from the hospital by Saturday afternoon.

Gay and other passengers described a harrowing scene as the charter bus veered down winding California 168, scraping roadside embankments and eventually skipping off the two-lane highway into a flat area of rocks and sagebrush.

Passengers said the bus did not roll over, as authorities originally reported. They said that several passengers were thrown from the vehicle when it sideswiped a steep embankment just before veering off the road.

“It was going faster and faster toward the curve,” said passenger Ilario LaRosa of Australia. “The driver said, ‘Don’t panic!’ but everybody panicked. Everybody started to move from one side of the bus to the other. . . . At the end, people were screaming.”

Lopez, who was sitting in a forward seat, said he watched in horror as the driver struggled to keep control of the vehicle. He said he and his wife huddled on the floor just before the crash.

“The driver did what he could,” Lopez said. “He is a good driver.”

Eleven-year-old Veronica Mowla, who was traveling with her grandmother from Australia, received several bruises to her face and leg. She spent much of Saturday morning sifting through her grandmother’s purse, which was filled with dirt and debris from the accident.

“It was horrible,” she said, holding a compress to her face. “And I have to catch a bus to school.”

Times correspondent Martin Forstenzer contributed to this story.