4 killed, 20 injured in California bus crash on 1-10 near Arizona
Four people were killed and 20 more injured early Wednesday when the bus they were riding in overturned on Interstate 10 near Arizona as it tried to avoid a batch of steel pipes spilling out from a jackknifed big rig, officials said.
The crash happened in three phases, starting about 2:15 a.m., when the tractor-trailer going 35 to 40 mph in the center lane moved to pass a slower vehicle by changing into the fast lane. As the trailer passed, it struck the center divider and jackknifed, spilling dozens of 6- to 8-inch pipes across the eastbound lanes and the highway’s dusty median and into oncoming traffic.
That, in turn, set off a chain reaction of crashes that culminated in the bus rolling off the freeway shoulder and into the dirt, coming to rest about 50 feet off the road, authorities said.
The bus was carrying 34 people headed to Los Angeles from El Paso and Phoenix, said Shelli Lombardo, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. In addition to the four passengers who died, 20 suffered minor to major injuries, including at least three who were airlifted to area hospitals and listed in critical condition, according to the California Highway Patrol, which is handling the investigation.
Large-scale deadly crashes like Wednesday’s are uncommon in Blythe, a city with nearly 21,000 residents that straddles an important cross-border route, police said.
“In my 29 years, it’s one of the worst,” said Blythe police Lt. Jeff Wade. “It’s up in the top five.”
Identities of the passengers killed were not immediately released pending notification of family members. The drivers of the big rig and bus survived, authorities said.
The crash happened less than a mile from the Arizona border along a mostly agricultural stretch of highway that crosses the Colorado River. Blythe police were the first on the scene and said passengers were walking around the wreckage.
“I was surprised,” Wade said. “People, under the circumstances, seemed calm.”
Richard Lee of La Mirada was riding in an SUV behind the tractor-trailer when the vehicle drove over the rolling steel pipes. He told ABC Los Angeles that the bus crash put the damage to his vehicle in perspective.
“That’s the first thing I felt, was incredibly, incredibly lucky,” he said.”When I heard people died … I was devastated.”
Blythe police said surviving passengers were taken to City Hall where the American Red Cross helped reunite them with family, some of whom hailed from the Los Angeles-area.
The crash occurred near U.S. Highway 95 and shut down the 10 Freeway for most of Wednesday, stranding motorists who were caught with few alternative routes. The company that owned the bus, meanwhile, appeared to have a relatively clean safety record.
El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express Inc., a low-cost transportation company that’s been operating across the Southwest since 1966, is in the top third of its class of transportation companies when it comes to its driving, safety and inspection records, according to data from Caltrans.
“Our thoughts, prayers, and unfortunately condolences go out to and for the trucker involved in the accident, occupants of any other vehicles that may have been involved, and most importantly, our passengers and driver,” the company’s president, Jerry Rosenbaum, said in a statement.
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