13 people dead, 31 injured in tragic tour bus crash on I-10

Thirteen people were killed when a bus smashed into the back of a truck that may have slowed for construction work on Interstate 10 north of Palm Springs Sunday morning. The Riverside County Coroner’s Office began identifying the victims on Monday morning.

We are still waiting for two of the victims to be identified. The coroner has identified the following crash victims:

Isabel Jimenez Hernandez, 66, from Los Angeles Rosa Ruiz, 53, from Los Angeles Gustavo Green, 62, Los Angeles Zoila Aguilera, 72, from Los Angeles Teodulo Vides, 59, from Los Angeles Milagros Gonzales, 72, from Los Angeles Conception Corvera, 57, from Palmdale Aracely Tije, 63, from Los Angeles Dora Galvez Rodriguez, 69, from Los Angeles Elvia Sanchez, 52, from Los Angeles Ana Gomes de Magallon, 71, from Los Angeles

Five critically-injured passengers were taken to the nearest trauma center, at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. Between 30-31 people were taken by fleets of ambulances to three hospitals across the Coachella Valley, the CHP and hospitals said.

California Highway Patrol officials said the bus driver was killed, and it looked at first like the bus did not leave braking skid marks before it hit a refrigerated truck trailer carrying food. The truck may have slowed or stopped for a traffic break as utility crews ahead were stringing wires across the freeway, in the desert heading up the hill to the San Gorgonio Pass. “Anytime we have a bus hitting the back of a truck, we’re going to think fatigue, or a heart attack,” said the CHP Border Division commander, Chief Jim Abele, at an afternoon news conference in Indio.

Forty-four passengers were aboard the bus, which had been inspected as late as last April and had shown no defects, Abele said. Desert Regional treated 14 patients, with five in critical condition. Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage had treated 11 patients with minor injuries, and JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio had treated five patients with minor injuries.

Abele said the force of the impact was so severe that the truck’s walls intruded 15 feet back into the bus passenger compartment. “There did not appear to be skid marks from the bus braking,” Abele said, “but don’t quote me on that, as this is preliminary information… “The bus was traveling significantly faster than the tractor trailer that it struck from behind.” An NTSB team of 11 people was dispatched to investigate.

The bus was owned by a Los Angeles company, USA Holiday, CHP officers said. California Public Utilities Commission records indicate that company and its owner, Vides Teogeo Elias, was cited in a 2008 crackdown at LAX for violations on state regulations. The driver of the bus was killed, but not yet identified. The CHP said
the truck driver was not seriously injured. The bus had taken gamblers on a junket to the Red Earth Casino, at Salton City, about 25 miles south of Indio. It was returning them to the Los Angeles area, but the exact location was not immediately released.

The CHP chief said the severity of this crash was impacting hardened CHP officers and fire rescue workers. “In almost 35 years, I’ve never been to a crash where there’s been confirmed 13 confirmed fatals,” Abele said.

The CHP Indio Area has set up a hotline for the public to call and give information regarding the collision or receive information about injured parties as it becomes available. The number is (760) 772-8900.

Families looking for information on their loved ones are asked to contact the hospitals first to see if they have been admitted. If they do not have that information they can contact the Riverside County Coroner’s office family assistance line at (951) 443-2300.