The wreckage of a charter bus sits on northbound Highway 99 between Atwater and Livingston, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The dismantling of the sign and the crash investigation kept northbound Highway 99 closed for almost 11 hours, forcing its heavy truck and vehicle load onto a frontage road.
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Authorities have responded to a bus crash on a central California freeway.
California Highway Patrol officers investigate the scene of a charter bus crash on northbound Highway 99 between Atwater and Livingston, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The bus veered off the central California free. There are no visible skid marks, but it appears the chartered bus may have smashed into the pole at full speed.
This still frame from video provided by KCRA3-TV shows authorities investigating the scene of a charter bus crash on northbound Highway 99 between Atwater and Livingston, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. According to an online criminal record check, that driver is Mario Vasquez, the same one who was operating the bus that crashed on Tuesday.
ATWATER, Calif. (AP) – Federal safety investigators converged Wednesday in central California to investigate a highway wreck that almost sliced a bus in half, killed four people and injured 23. The 57-year-old was among those with major injuries and was airlifted to a hospital, the newspaper said. “We’re going to be working with the California Highway Patrol to determine that”.
The highway runs through farm fields and almond orchards in the San Joaquin Valley northwest of Fresno. He said the sign pole sheared through the center of the vehicle.
She said the pole in Tuesday’s crash had the required barrier – in this case, a guardrail – on the side facing lanes.
Warnke says the dead include a married couple from Mexico who were traveling to visit a daughter in Pasco, Washington, and a man from Avalon, California, whose spouse is hospitalized.
The family of one of the men killed in the crash describe him as a devoted father of four. “He loved being with his children”. They said sometimes he worked seven days a week, but add Vasquez always traveled with a second driver.
Apparently running late for its 1:30 a.m. driver switch, the bus veered off the highway shortly before 3:30 a.m.
“There was lots of screaming and crying”, Sanchez told The Associated Press hours after Tuesday’s crash.
The investigation into what caused the crash, he said, will be very intricate and long.
The driver survived, but officials haven’t been able to speak to him because of his injuries.
The bus started its journey in Mexico, stopped in Los Angeles on Monday night and was on its way to the Sacramento area on Tuesday.
Outlets are reporting at least 30 people were on the bus.
“We couldn’t pull people out because there was shattered glass everywhere, seats destroyed”, he said.
Some victims were thrown from the bus into a ditch.
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“The bus was registered out of Los Angeles and belonged to a company called ‘Autobuses Coordinados”.
