13 KILLED IN CRASH
31 others are injured as tour bus slams into big rig on freeway near Palm Springs
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — They had spent the night at a casino near the Salton Sea, so many of the passengers had fallen asleep as the USA Holiday tour bus rumbled west on the 10 Freeway on the way back to Los Angeles.
Before dawn, they were jolted awake by screams and a grinding cacophony of metal on metal.
Thirteen people were killed and 31 others injured Sunday morning when the bus crashed into a big rig truck near Palm Springs, officials said.
Federal and local investigators are probing the cause of the crash, the deadliest in California in several decades.
The bus slammed into the back of the truck’s trailer, crushing the front third of the cabin. Most of those who died appeared to have been sitting toward the front of the bus.
“I was awakened by the sounds of people screaming for help,” said passenger Ana Car, 61. “I noticed a heavyset woman lying in the center aisle to my right yelling, ‘My legs! My legs!’ ”
The crash occurred at 5:17 a.m. Sunday in Desert Hot Springs as the bus headed back to Los Angeles from a casino in Thermal near the Salton Sea.
CHP officers in marked patrol cars had been periodically slowing and stopping traffic along that stretch of the 10 Freeway overnight for a Southern California Edison crew that was working on electrical wires that crossed over the roadway.
Traffic had begun to move again before the collision, Sgt. Daniel Hesser said, but speeds were much slower than the typical freeway flow.
The front of the white tour bus was crumpled and largely destroyed, suggesting the bus was traveling much faster than the truck, officials said. They cautioned that it was too early to say whether the bus driver, who died in the crash, was speeding.
Police and rescuers came across a horrific scene of destruction.
“In almost 35 years, I’ve never been to a crash where there’s been 13 confirmed fa-
Here is a list of fatal bus crashes across the nation:
April 10, 2014: 10 people were killed when a FedEx truck veered across Interstate 5 near Orland and crashed into a bus carrying high school students from Los Angeles.
Feb. 3, 2013: A tour bus traveling from Big Bear to Tijuana careened down a narrow roadway in Yucaipa, smashed into a pickup truck and overturned. Eight people were killed and more than 30 were injured. The driver was later charged with eight counts of vehicular manslaughter.
March 12, 2011: A bus returning to New York City from a casino overturned on a highway and was sliced in half by the support pole for a large sign, killing 13 and injuring 19.
July 22, 2010: Six people died and 20 were injured when a Greyhound bus en route to Los Angeles slammed into an overturned SUV on a highway in Fresno.
Sept. 23, 2005: A bus ferrying nursing home residents away from Hurricane Rita caught fire and exploded while stuck on a gridlocked highway south of Dallas, killing 23 people.
Oct. 9, 2004 :Abusrunbya mom-and-pop tour operator careened off an interstate in Marion, Ark., and overturned, killing 14 Chicagoarea travelers on their way to a Mississippi casino and injuring 16.
May 9, 1999: A bus heading to a casino in Bay St. Louis, Miss., ran off a highway on Mother’s Day, killing 22 people. Investigators said the driver was impaired by severe medical conditions and use of marijuana and an antihistamine. July 31, 1991: A chartered school bus with 45 Girl Scouts and their adult chaperones was traveling with defective brakes near Palm Springs. The bus sped down a steep road, tumbled down a hillside and smashed into a boulder-strewn gully, killing seven people and injuring 47.
Sept. 21, 1989: A school bus collided with a soft drink truck and fell into a waterfilled pit near Mission, Texas. Twenty-one students were killed and 60 injured.
May 14, 1988: A church bus returning from an amusement park collided head-on with a pickup near Carrollton, Ky., killing 24 children and three adults on the bus.
May 30, 1986: A speeding Starline Sightseeing Tours coach crashed in a California canyon, killing 21 passengers.
Feb. 18, 1981: A commuter bus crashed through a guardrail near Quantico, Va., and down an 80-foot embankment into a creek, killing 11 people and injuring 13.
June 5, 1980: A tour bus carrying mostly senior citizens from Dallas to Branson, Mo., plunged into a 40-foot ravine near Jasper, Ark., killing 20 people and injuring 13.
May 21, 1976: A bus carrying students from the Yuba City High School choir plunged off a freeway ramp near Martinez, killing 28 students and a teacher in the deadliest bus accident in U.S. history.
Feb. 28, 1958: A bus carrying 48 elementary and high school students went off the road in Prestonsburg, Ky., plunged down an embankment and into a swollen river, where it was swept downstream and submerged, killing 27.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.