LOS ANGELES — When a tour bus and a sport utility vehicle crashed on a freeway in the Los Angeles area early Sunday, one person was killed and 32 were hurt, including two seriously.
California Highway Patrol said in a news release that the only person in the SUV died when it caught fire after the crash just after 5 a.m. in the Hacienda Heights area, which is about 20 miles (32 km) east of downtown LA.
Zachary Salazar, a CHP officer, said that 32 people were taken to hospitals, two of whom were in serious condition. He said that the injuries of the other people who were taken to the hospital ranged from mild to minor.
Joe Runnel, a bus passenger, told KTLA-TV that people were “begging for mercy” right after the crash, which shut down two lanes of State Route 60 for several hours.
Runnel said, “I was thrown from the back seat of the bus to the floor about three or four seats down.” “I had glass on me…” A lot of people were yelling.
The CHP said that the preliminary investigation shows that the SUV lost power for unknown reasons in a lane, and the tour bus then hit the back of the SUV. A news statement said that after the crash, the bus went across all lanes to the right and hit the guardrail on the shoulder.
A broken windscreen and other damage to the front of the bus were very bad. The fire chief for LA County said the fire did not spread to the bus.
As well as the driver, Salazar said there were 63 people on the bus. He said that 31 people were able to get away on a different bus.
Police said the bus was going from the desert area of Indio, which is close to Palm Springs, to the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Koreatown. At first, the police said the bus was from Morongo.
By late morning, the highway was fully open again.