Driver Arrested in I-15 Crash of Tourist Van

The driver of a van full of Swiss tourists that crashed on Interstate 15 near Escondido, killing two, has been arrested for investigation of manslaughter, officials said Friday.

The driver and three other passengers were injured in the crash. All six people in the van were Swiss, officials said.

The van veered off Interstate 15, just north of California 78 in Escondido, about 10 p.m. Monday, California Highway Patrol Officer John Sjursen said.

The driver was identified as Denis Aencoz, 24, of Les Bossons, Switzerland, Sjursen said. Aencoz was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla, with major injuries. He has been booked on two counts of manslaughter and is currently in a guarded room at the hospital, a county jail spokeswoman said.

The San Diego County district attorney’s office will determine whether to bring charges against Aencoz, Sjursen said.

“Some witnesses had him driving in excess of 70 m.p.h., and other evidence indicates his speed was greater than 80 m.p.h.,” Sjursen said. “For an unknown reason, he drifted off the road, down an embankment and struck a tree.”

Killed at the scene were Maurice Ramel, 51, and Lenoir Samuel Henri, 40, both of Chateux-de’Oex, Switzerland, said medical examiner’s investigator Bill Leard. Both men are survived by wives in Switzerland, he said.

Three 17-year-old passengers were injured and taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, Sjursen said. Their names were not released because they were juveniles.

Hospital spokeswoman Amy De Noble said one of the three was treated for cuts and bruises and released; the second remained hospitalized in good condition with a fractured elbow and the third was in stable condition.