31 Teen-Agers Hurt as Bus Leaves Road

A bus with a group of Orange County teen-agers aboard ran off a winding mountain highway south of Palm Desert and caught fire Friday afternoon.

Authorities said two teen-agers suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals by helicopter. Twenty-nine teen-agers suffered minor injuries in the crash, which occurred about 4 p.m. on California 74 between Palm Desert and Pinyon Pines, about 20 miles southeast of Palm Springs.

The youth group was apparently on its way to a weekend retreat at Pathfinder Ranch in Idyllwild when the Ryder rental bus went off the two-lane roadway, according to the California Highway Patrol. When authorities arrived, the bus was 50 to 75 feet off the side of the road, CHP Officer Chris Prietto said.

The bus was burning when firefighters arrived, said Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Bonnie O’Connell. “But everyone was out by that time,” she said.

About 20 firefighters, two ground ambulances and two air ambulances were there, she said.

The teen-agers were junior high students from Coast Hills Community Church in Laguna Niguel, said a spokesman at Pathfinder Ranch, a weekend mountain retreat.

O’Connell said the bus was “going up the mountain when it went off the side.”

It was not immediately clear why the bus went off the road.

Authorities set up debriefing centers for victims and their parents at Palm Desert City Hall and the Riverside County fire station in Pinyon Pines.

The accident was the second involving youngsters in the Palm Springs area in recent months.

Last July, a charter bus carrying a group of Girl Scouts from across the nation crashed on the road leading to the base of the Palm Springs Tramway, killing four of the girls, two adult passengers and the bus driver. Forty-seven passengers were injured.