5 dead, more injured in Highway 99 bus crash

A bus carrying travelers from Mexico was ripped open early Tuesday when it crashed into a highway signage pole south of Livingston, killing five people and injuring several others in a scene described as having “a tremendous amount of carnage.”

The bus was carrying about 30 people when it veered off Highway 99 and crashed just after 3:30 a.m., the California Highway Patrol reported. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Nakia Coleman, a passenger who was traveling home to Pasco, Washington, said the bus was trying to pass another vehicle before the crash.

“That vehicle wasn’t allowing him to pass and it kind of ran him off the road,” Coleman told the Tri-City Herald. “That’s when (the pole) went straight through the middle of the bus.”

The passenger bus, registered to Autobuses Coordinados USA, Inc., of Los Angeles, was traveling between the Mexican state of Nayarit and Washington state, according to agents of the bus company in Mexico who declined to give their names to the Sun-Star because they were not authorized to speak to a reporter.

One survivor, 12-year-old Jennifer Rivera, told the Sun-Star she had been sleeping when she suddenly awoke to the noise of the crash and then people crying.

“It was just me and my uncles,” the girl said in Spanish, speaking outside the CHP office in Atwater hours after the crash. “I don’t know what happened to them. They were hurt and battered.”

“Thank God I was OK,” Rivera said, adding that she had scratches and pain on the back of her head and in her back. The petite girl, wearing a red T-shirt and her hair in a braid, said she was born in the United States but had been living in Nayarit and was returning to the U.S. to study.

The collision caused the large signage pole to plow through the front of the bus, slicing through several rows of seats before hitting the back axle. Six people who sustained major injuries were airlifted to hospitals in Modesto and Turlock; other victims also were taken to Mercy hospital in Merced, CHP Office Moises Onsurez said.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said he saw blood on the side of the bus and there were so many people injured that the first two ambulances on the scene ran out of tourniquets.

A deputy coroner who is a former Marine told Warnke the scene reminded him of buses he’d seen that had been bombed, the sheriff said.

“There’s a tremendous amount of carnage here - a very, very nasty accident,” Warnke told the Sun-Star.

“When I first got there, I could hear people screaming from inside of the bus,” Warnke said. “Several people had been ejected and were lying in the ditch. It was harder to get to them immediately because of the amount of diesel fuel that had spilled.”

Many of the people injured had limbs that were partially or mostly severed, Warnke said. “Fire department personnel were inside the bus collecting as many body parts as possible for the coroner to identify,” he said.

The driver of the bus was identified as Mario David Vasquez, 57, of the Los Angeles area, according to Onsurez. Vasquez was among the people who suffered major injuries. He remained in critical condition Tuesday afternoon, the CHP said.

Several people were trapped in the bus for hours before emergency responders were able to rescue them.

Coleman said that the crash left her pinned to her seat, about two feet behind the pole. A male passenger who had died was pushed on top of her.

“It’s like one of those ‘Final Destination’ movie things you never thought would happen in reality, especially to you,” said Coleman, 40.

She managed to wiggle free and climb to the back seat where emergency crews opened an exit window.

“The other people were pinned in really bad,” she said. “It was a scary sight, being in there.”

Coleman said she met two other men from Pasco on the bus, but didn’t know what happened to them. The crash claimed the life of her family’s Jack Russell terrier, Mia, who had been traveling in her cage in the cargo hold.

“I’m still breathing, so I’m thankful for that,” Coleman told the Herald by phone from her hospital room in Merced’s Mercy Medical Center.

Carin Sarkis, a spokeswoman for Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, said it received two males in critical condition, a female in critical condition and two females in serious condition. A male patient in fair condition was transferred to the hospital and a second transfer was expected, she said. Later Tuesday afternoon, hospital officials said one female and two males were in serious condition, while one male and two females were in fair condition.

Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock said one patient was transferred to Modesto and three others were treated and released. Memorial Medical Center in Modesto said it received four patients, all in fair condition.

Passengers who weren’t sent to hospitals were taken to the CHP office in Atwater, where they met with representatives of the Mexican Consul. The consul officials spent nearly an hour in the office and declined to speak to the Sun-Star as they left.

Autobuses Coordinados advertises that it travels between Mexico and Washington with stops including Los Angeles, Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento, and Oregon. The bus had been in Los Angeles late Monday and was scheduled to make its next stop in Livingston, according to the CHP.

A woman who answered the phone at the office of Autobuses Coordinados USA said she had no information and was not authorized to speak on behalf of the company.

An inspection report conducted in California on April 28 shows the bus involved in Tuesday’s crash had been cited for three violations, including having prohibited aisle seats; parts and accessories violations; and a maintenance violation, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation records.

The collision forced the CHP to close northbound Highway 99, a main artery for the San Joaquin Valley, into late Tuesday afternoon and traffic was diverted to other roadways.

The pole holding the large highway exit sign withstood the impact of the crash and stuck out from the crumpled remains of the bus.

Some highway signs, like those listing the speed limit, have support poles designed with points that break away during a crash. But the poles supporting the much larger overhead signs are designed to "stay put," Vanessa Wiseman, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, told The Associated Press.

She said the pole involved in Tuesday's crash had the required barrier — in this case, a guardrail — on the side facing lanes, the AP reported.

Onsurez told the Sun-Star that crews were “working on dismantling the sign, then they’ll remove the bus.”

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 6:34 AM with the headline "5 dead, more injured in Highway 99 bus crash."