Tour bus involved in deadly crash was out of safety compliance

The tour bus that was involved in a deadly crash early Sunday morning was out of safety compliance, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB held a news conference Tuesday at 1 p.m. where we learned the tread depth for some of the vehicle’s tires was below the minimum recommended level.

Investigators have completed their preliminary examination of the busses body and wheels. They determined the eight tires were from various manufacturers and the recommended minimum tread depth for the tires on the steer axle is 4/32 of an inch. For the other tires it is 2/32 of an inch.

The two steer axle tires on the tour bus were below the minimum recommendation, making the bus out of compliance with Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspection criteria, officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

The exact cause of the crash is still under investigation.

13 people killed after tour bus smashes into big rig trailer

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.

Driver of semi truck speaks out after crash

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 Yolanda Mendoza, 69, from Los Angeles Tony Mai, 50, from Los Angeles

Desert Regional Medical Center released additional patient updates on Monday morning as well:

Four patients remain in critical condition One patient is in serious condition One patient is in fair condition Nine patients were treated and released from the hospital

The National Transportation Safety Board held a news conference Monday afternoon. At the conference, the NTSB laid out a plan as to how they’re going to move forward with this investigation. But it appears the most important question, how did this happen, won’t be answered for at least another week. In the meantime they said there’s a number of details and questions they need answered first before they can answer that important question.

“Our mission is to determine not only what happened, but why it happened, and make safety recommendations to avoid having it happen again,” said NTSB board member Earl Weener.

Weener said they won’t determine the cause of the crash while they are here. Instead, they will look into a number of things, ranging from the lighting on the road, company safety compliance and history.

“It’s so early on that basically we can’t say definitively what the cause of the accident was. Again, we talked about fatigue yesterday, we talked about a medical emergency, whether it be a heart attack, we don’t know if there was a distraction of sorts, we don’t know if there was a mechanical failure. That’s what we’re going to be looking into,” said Chief Jim Abele, the CHP Border Division Commander.

The 1996 bus did not have any seat belts on it, but they hope there might be a recording device which could lead to more information.

A “Los Angeles Times” article raised concerns over the bus driver’s driving record saying he’d been sued twice for negligence after two crashes, one of which ended in three deaths. The NTSB won’t comment, and CHP said it’s not aware of that.

“We’ll be looking at their backgrounds, licensing, as well as their driving records, accident histories and level of training and try to determine if the driver had any condition that would have contributed to the crash,” Weener said.

CHP said the bus arrived at the casino around 11:00 p.m. Saturday and left around 4 a.m. Sunday.

“Well, there was a manifest from the casino, and it specifically identifies the passengers and it identifies the owner operator,” Abele said.