SAN CLEMENTE : Pregnant Women on Bus That Hits Truck

Two pregnant women were among six passengers on a Greyhound bus who suffered minor injuries early Thursday when the driver lost control and slammed into a parked truck about a block from his destination at the bus terminal here.

One of the passengers, a Guatemala native who is eight months pregnant, suffered labor pains immediately after the accident and was admitted to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center. The pains subsided, but she remained in the hospital Thursday for observation, a hospital spokesman said.

Greyhound representatives brought the woman’s husband to the hospital from Los Angeles. Their names were not disclosed.

The other five injured passengers, including the second pregnant woman, were treated for bumps and bruises at Samaritan Medical Center-San Clemente, said Lt. William R. Trudeau of the San Clemente Police Department.

“Everyone involved was quite lucky,” Trudeau said.

While the accident remains under investigation, police said the driver, Benjamin Franklin Singleton, 46, of National City, was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was neither cited nor arrested.

The accident occurred at 12:40 a.m. in the 100 block of Avenida de la Estrella as the bus pulled into San Clemente from San Diego, Trudeau said. When Singleton reached for a microphone to announce the arrival, he apparently lost control of the bus while it was traveling at 30 m.p.h. The bus drifted to the right and hit the legally parked truck, knocking it on its side.

Because the crash crushed the front door of the bus, police officers and firefighters used ladders to remove the passengers from the front and side windows, Trudeau said.

The parked truck, carrying a load of picture frames, was knocked about 32 feet down a slope.

Elizabeth Dunn, a Greyhound spokeswoman, said that Singleton has been employed by Greyhound since March, 1990.

“We’re conducting a full investigation,” she added. “Our experts will review the accident scene and interview passengers and other eyewitnesses. . . .”