Identities in fatal bus crash released, passengers complain about company

A couple traveling from Mexico to visit a daughter they hadn’t seen in years were among the four people killed in a horrific bus crash that left survivors and authorities raising questions Wednesday about the company that operates the route along the West Coast.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke identified the victims as Fernando Ramirez, 57, and his wife, Petra Carrillo Ruiz, 64; Jose Morales Bravo, a 68-year-old man from Avalon whose wife was injured in the crash; and 38-year-old Jaime De Los Santos of Tijuana, Mexico.

Soon after the crash early Tuesday along Highway 99 near Livingston, authorities said five people were killed. Warnke and the California Highway Patrol corrected the number to four on Wednesday.

A total of 27 people were on the bus, including driver Mario David Vasquez, 57, of Los Angeles.

The bus veered off the highway about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday and struck a large signage pole, which tore into the passenger compartment, ripping through several rows of seats. The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday morning, CHP Capt. Brian Hawkins declined to give details about the investigation, saying he would not speculate. The investigation is expected to take several months.

Vasquez suffered major injuries and authorities offered no new information about him Wednesday.

Ramirez and Carrillo Ruiz were traveling to Washington to visit their daughter, Lilia, whom they hadn’t seen in more than a dozen years, according to Natalia Torrayo Garcia, who spoke to the Sun-Star by phone from Villa Juarez, Nayarit.

Torrayo Garcia said she lived on the same street as the couple and that most everyone in town knew them because they lived across from the small town’s central plaza.

“Everyone is very sad because of the news,” Torrayo Garcia said. “They were very humble people, very hardworking.” She added that she hopes people will help raise money to bring their bodies home for burial.

The couple was traveling with their niece, 12-year-old Jennifer Rivera, who was returning to the United States to study. Rivera, who spoke to the Sun-Star soon after the crash, sustained minor injuries.

As of Wednesday morning, two crash victims were in serious condition at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto; one was in fair condition; one was in good condition; and one was discharged, according to a spokeswoman for the hospital.

Survivors were offered transportation to their final destinations by the bus company, Autobuses Coordinados USA, according to Hawkins.

At least one survivor, Nakia Coleman, said she was too traumatized to board another bus. Instead, Coleman said the company sent a van to take her to Marysville, where family members were meeting her to take her home to Pasco, Wash.

“I refused to get on the bus,” she said.

Speaking to the Sun-Star by phone, Coleman said the company should have done more to help the survivors and their families. Her son was unable to get any information about her or the crash on Tuesday when he went to the company’s office in Pasco, she said.

Coleman, who was returning from a 16-month stay in Mexico, lost all of her belongings in the crash, including her wedding ring and her Jack Russell terrier, Mia, who was killed while riding in the bus’ cargo hold.

“I raised hell with them,” Coleman said. “I told them, ‘You guys don’t know what we just went through.’ They should be doing a lot more.”

Coleman said she believed Vasquez was trying to pass another vehicle just before the crash, but the other driver would not allow him to merge.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed Vasquez’s license was valid the day of the crash. It was “disqualified” on Jan. 24, 2015, but a DMV employee declined to elaborate and didn’t note any suspensions. It’s not clear when his license was revalidated.

A National Transportation Safety Board official who spoke at the news conference Wednesday said investigators were unsure if the 18-year-old bus had an electronic control module on it, which records data.

Don Karol, a senior accident investigator with the NTSB, said the federal organization will conduct a fact-finding mission to make safety recommendations and won’t investigate the cause of of the crash. About 10 NTSB investigators will be in Merced County for about a week.

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

At the downtown Fresno office on Wednesday morning, an employee for Autobuses Coordinados said she wasn’t authorized to speak about the accident.

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

Online reviews of the company show many customers have been critical of their trips.

A McFarland woman who rode one of the company’s buses last summer, traveling with her family from Oregon to Delano, said it was an experience she would not repeat.

The woman asked the Sun-Star to use only her first name, Abby, because she didn’t want to be criticized for not reporting her complaints about the company sooner.

“The driver was driving insanely fast around curves,” Abby said in an interview with the Sun-Star. “He absolutely didn’t care.”

The bus oversold seats and lacked air-conditioning, she said. As it began to head into mountains about 5 p.m., it broke down, she said, and the passengers, including children and senior citizens, were forced to wait in the stranded vehicle until another bus arrived the next morning.

“I never want to get on another one of those buses again,” she said.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Identities in fatal bus crash released, passengers complain about company."