UPDATE: Authorities say 13 people died when a tour bus rear-ended a semi-truck on a California highway.
California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele says the early Sunday crash just north of Palm Springs injured an additional 31 people.
He says the USA Holiday tour bus was returning to Los Angeles after a visit to the Red Earth Casino in Thermal, California.
He says the bus was traveling much faster than the semi, and the impact was so strong, the bus went about 15 feet into the trailer. He says it’s not clear if the bus was speeding.
Abele says it’s unknown if alcohol, drugs or fatigue played a role in the accident. The bus was inspected in 2014, 2015 and this year and found no mechanical issues.
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif.—A tour bus and a semi-truck crashed on a highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said.
CHP Officer Stephanie Hamilton confirmed the deaths to the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs as of 7:30 a.m. Firefighters also removed additional bodies, using ladders to climb into the bus’ windows, the newspaper reported.
#UPDATE: At least 13 dead, over 30 injured in tour bus crash with semi-truck near #PalmSprings. https://t.co/zTd3VoE3rl pic.twitter.com/GWA9ZIcKaf
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) October 23, 2016
Photos show the front of the passenger bus crumpled entirely into the semi-truck’s trailer after the wreck on Interstate 10 in Desert Hot Springs, near the desert resort town of Palm Springs about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Responders used tow trucks to lift the trailer to provide easier access to the bus, whose front end was demolished.
Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs received 14 patients: five in critical condition, three in serious condition and six with minor injuries, hospital marketing director Rich Ramhoff said.
Eleven people with minor injuries were sent to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, spokesperson Lee Rice said. JFK Memorial Medical Center in Indio received five patients, all with minor injuries, chief development officer Linda Evans said.
The cause of the crash is not yet known. The bus may have been coming from Red Earth Casino, about 25 miles southeast of Palm Springs, the CHP said. Hamilton said the driver was one of the owners of the tour bus company, USA Holiday, based in the city of Alhambra, near Los Angeles.
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