7 Die, 7 Hurt in Van Crash on Church Trip

They left Los Angeles with high hopes of expanding their Philippines-based church to San Francisco. But halfway there, something went tragically wrong.

Seven members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church in Eagle Rock died and seven were injured late Thursday when their rented Ford van tumbled down an embankment, leaving a trail of Bibles and plastic sheet music strewn across U.S. 101.

Two of the survivors were in critical condition Friday, and another, a 5-year-old girl, was in serious condition, hospital officials said. Among those killed was the driver of the van, 49-year-old Julieta Razon of Los Angeles.

California Highway Patrol investigators said they were at a loss to explain the crash. It occurred about 11 p.m. as Razon drove a lonely stretch of the highway south of Atascadero that passes through dun-colored hills dotted with small ranches.

“It’s real straight. It’s a good roadway,” said CHP Officer Donnie Beavers. “We’re going to endeavor to figure out what happened. I don’t know that we ever will be able to.

“There’s a big median out there. Maybe she closed her eyes for a second, maybe she swerved and panicked. We can probably figure out what happened, but not why it happened.”

The 14 church members were heading to a conference at a hotel in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco. The Pentecostal church, which is based in Davao City, Philippines, claims 100,000 active members worldwide and has a strong missionary focus.

Church leaders established a U.S. branch in Los Angeles two years ago and planned to open a second branch in San Francisco, according to one church official who rushed to the crash area Friday.

Investigators said they believe that Razon was driving within the posted 65 mph limit when she swerved across the flat, 40-foot-wide dirt median, across two lanes of southbound traffic and down the embankment.

Several passengers who were not wearing seat belts were thrown from the van as it crashed down the hillside, the CHP said. The van wound up on its roof.

The group had rented the van in Norwalk earlier Thursday and headed up the coast, stopping in San Luis Obispo for gas and a bite to eat. The accident occurred about 15 miles up the road.

Only two of the 14 people in the van were found wearing seat belts, CHP Officer Scott O. Lee said. Razon had had a California license since at least 1996 and had only one moving violation on her record, for running a stop sign in 1997, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Relatives and friends of the crash victims flocked to San Luis Obispo, where most of the surviving victims were hospitalized. Among those arriving was Apollo C. Quiboloy, who founded the church in 1980 and had been in Burlingame for the conference.

In Los Angeles, neighbors remembered Razon and the other victims as hard-working and devout.

“She would do anything to help anyone,” 10-year-old David Acayan recalled of Razon, who lived next door to his family in Silver Lake. “She was the one who kept everything together.”

The church, tucked in an alley-side office in Eagle Rock, was locked and quiet Friday. It is one of five small churches that share the Philippine Village Center on Eagle Rock Boulevard with a Philippine National Bank center, the California Examiner, Radio Manila and a dance hall.

The CHP identified the dead passengers as Merlin Dannan, 30, of Los Angeles; Pacing Yuson, 70, of Los Angeles; Marissa Quibold, 41, of Torrance; Fely Haliburton, 60, of Los Angeles; Marie Guanzing, 40, of Harbor City; and Aurora Towner, 55, of Carson.

The injured included 5-year-old Aretha Fike of North Hollywood. She was taken by ambulance to a pediatric intensive care unit at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, where she was listed in serious condition. Her mother, Raquel Lozado, was treated for minor injuries at the scene. Lozado’s husband, Leu Leonardo Lozado, 66, was being treated for moderate injuries at Twin Cities Hospital in Templeton.

Also injured were William Duque, 36, of North Hollywood, who was in critical condition with head injuries at Sierra Vista Hospital in San Luis Obispo; Juanita Reyes, 55, of Canoga Park, also in critical condition at Sierra Vista, where she underwent surgery for multiple leg fractures; and Willie Almilla, 36, of Los Angeles, and Efran Razon, 51, of Los Angeles, who were treated for minor injuries at Twin Cities Hospital and released.

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Times staff writers Zanto Peabody, Edgar Sandoval, Irene Garcia, Johnathon E. Briggs and Hector Becerra contributed to this story.