22 Injured as Pickup, MTA Bus Collide : Crash: Transit agency says the truck’s driver apparently ran a red light. He and his passenger were listed in critical condition.

Twenty people were injured, two critically, after a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus collided Saturday afternoon with a pickup truck at a busy South-Central Los Angeles intersection.

The accident occurred about 1:20 p.m. at Avalon Boulevard and Manchester Avenue, authorities said.

The truck, a tan, 1982 Chevrolet, was traveling north on Avalon Boulevard and apparently ran a red light, said Clara Poltes-Fellow, an MTA spokeswoman. It hit the bus head-on as it headed west on Manchester Avenue, Poltes-Fellow said.

The truck’s two occupants, a 77-year-old man and a woman, were taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center where they were reported in critical condition, Los Angeles police said.

The man was identified by a hospital spokeswoman as L.T. Arimington, who received injuries to his head and abdomen. The woman, who was not identified, was believed to be Arimington’s wife, the spokeswoman said. She received head injuries.

The bus, which travels along Manchester from Norwalk to Marina del Rey, was hit near the driver’s side. As many as 20 people aboard, including the driver, were injured. About half were treated at the scene, said Jim Wells of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Ten were taken to hospitals, including Daniel Freeman Memorial Medical Center, St. Francis Medical Center, H. Claude Hudson Hospital and Hubert Humphrey Hospital, Wells said.

The bus driver was treated at the scene for neck and shoulder injuries.

The accident is under investigation, but Clark said witnesses, apart from those involved in the accident, are scarce.