A memorial in honor of 13 people who died in a tour bus crash in Palm Springs continued to grow Monday in Koreatown, where the bus had been expected to drop off its passengers following a weekend casino junket.
One local resident said he stopped taking the gamblers’ bus because he believed the driver had a tendency to appear sleepy. While there was no immediate word of an official cause of the deadly crash, a CHP officer acknowledged it’s possible the driver could have fallen asleep or suffered a major health problem, such as a heart attack.
Friends of people aboard the bus brought candles and flowers to the drop- off site near Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in memory of the dead and the dozens who were injured in the Sunday morning crash.
Marta Lucero, who was among those adding to the memorial, told a local TV station that one of her best friends was killed in the wreck.
“Nice lady. Many people loved her,” Lucero told the station. “I am very sad, because she’s like my sister.”
Another woman at the memorial told a reporter that she knew the bus driver, who was among those killed, and described him as a good driver and a nice person. Another man, however, told the station that he stopped taking the casino trips because the driver had a tendency to nod off.
The cause of the crash, which occurred around 5:15 a.m. Sunday on westbound Interstate 10 west of Indian Canyon Drive, has not yet been determined. A California Highway Patrol division chief said, however, there were no signs the driver tried to brake before slamming into the rear of a big rig. There was some speculation the driver may have fallen asleep or suffered a major health problem, such as a heart attack.
Teodulo Vides, 59, was listed as the Alhambra-based bus company USA Holiday’s registered owner and sole driver, according to federal transportation records.
Bus passengers who died in the crash were identified as:
— Yolanda Mendoza, 69, of Los Angeles;
— Isabel Jimenez Hernandez, 66, of Los Angeles;
— Rosa Ruiz, 53, of Los Angeles;
— Gustavo Green, 62, of Los Angeles;
— Zoila Aguilera, 72, of Los Angeles;
— Milagros Gonzales, 72, of Los Angeles;
— Conception Corvera, 57, of Palmdale;
— Aracely Tije, 63, of Los Angeles;
— Dora Galvez de Rodriguez, 69, of Los Angeles;
— Elvia Sanchez, 52, of Los Angeles; and
— Ana Gomes de Magalion, 71, of Los Angeles.
One male victim remained unidentified as of late this morning.
California Public Utilities Commission records indicate that Vides and the bus company were cited in a 2008 crackdown at Los Angeles International Airport for violations on state regulations.
USA Holiday had previously run gambling junkets from southeast Los Angeles County and from the Koreatown area, according to the CHP.
The bus had been inspected as late as last April and had shown no defects, CHP Border Division Chief Jim Abele said.
CHP officials said it looked at first like the bus did not leave braking skid marks before it hit a refrigerated truck trailer that was carrying food. The truck driver was not seriously injured, according to the CHP.
“Any time we have a bus hitting the back of a truck, we’re going to think fatigue, or a heart attack,” Abele said at a Sunday afternoon news conference in Indio.
A 12-member team from the National Transportation Safety Board was brought in Monday to begin investigating the cause of the crash, along with CHP investigators.
Firefighters used ladders to get into the passenger compartment of the bus, which had been peeled back from the vehicle’s undercarriage. The fatally injured were riding toward the front of the bus. Abele said survivor accounts indicate that most of the passengers were asleep when the crash occurred.
Abele said the force of the impact was so severe that the truck’s walls intruded 15 feet back into the bus passenger compartment.
—City News Service