Thirteen people died and 31 were injured—most of them as they slept—when a tour bus slammed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs before dawn Sunday, October 23. CHP Investigators said the Alhambra-based USA Holiday charter bus carrying 44 passengers was returning to the Los Angeles area after a visit to the Red Earth Casino in Thermal. Five victims remain in intensive care; those with less serious injuries have been treated and sent home. The bus driver was killed in the collision. The Riverside County Coroner’s Office is working to identify the victims and notify their families. It has not yet been determined whether alcohol, drugs or fatigue played a role in the collision, which occurred at 5:17 a.m. on I-10 between the Indian Avenue and Highway 62 exits. The investigation will be joined today by a 12-member team from the National Transportation Safety Board. The semi was going only about 5 mph in the second-from-right westbound lane; traffic had slowed because of a traffic break a mile or two ahead to allow Southern California Edison workers to pull wires across the highway. The bus was traveling much faster; when the bus hit the semi, the impact was so strong that the bus went about 15 feet into the trailer, peeling back the front of the bus and mangling the back of the semi’s collapsible trailer. The vehicles had to be pulled apart by crane. Most of the dead were believed to have been sitting near the front of the bus and were found in their seats.
13 KILLED, 31 INJURED IN HORRENDOUS BUS VS. BIG RIG CRASH ON I-10 NEAR S.R. 62
