The driver of a tour bus that slammed into the back of a truck on a California highway and killed 13 people was previously sued in other car crash deaths.
Sunday morning’s early morning collision near Palm Springs injured 31 people, with four still critically injured on Monday.
Authorities have not yet discolsed an official reason for the crash, but noted the bus operator was driving as fast as 65 mph and never appeared to apply the breaks before slamming into the truck, which was creeping along at 5 mph. The bus was heading to Los Angeles from the desert town of Salton City when it crashed around 5:15 a.m.
Ana Car, 61, was sleeping in one of the bus’ backrows when she abruptly woke up to find herself amid dead bodies. She reached out through a broken window and yelled for help, eventually attracting passing motorists who helped her to safety.
“I couldn’t stand when they got me out,” Car said, adding she was on her way home from a night of gambling at a desert casino. “I sat on the side of the road, watching them pull so many people out. I saw so much blood and two dead bodies. I was so scared.”
USA Holiday employee Julie Vides told the Daily News that her father, 59-year-old Teodulo Vides, was driving the bus.
The tour operator has been sued at least twice for crashes, including a 2007 crash by one of his driver’s that killed three people on a California highway, according to The Press Enterprise.
The estate of victim Maria Llamas sued USA Holiday, driver Paulino Camacho Ceballos and Vides, though the case was dismissed when Llamas’s team did not respond to requests during the discovery process.
Two other suits against Ceballos, Vides and the company were brought in 2004 and 2009, but eventually also dismissed.
Vides was among 12 of the 13 deceased, who were all from the Los Angeles area and ranged in age from 52 to 72, identified by the Riverside County coroner on Monday.
Elvia Sanchez, 52; Rosa Ruiz, 53; Conception Corvera, 57; Gustavo Green, 62; Aracely Tije, 63; Isabel Jimenez-Hernandez, 66; Dora Galvez de Rodriguez, 69; Yolanda Mendoza, 69; Ana Gomes de Magallon, 71; Zoila Aguilera, 72; and Milagros Gonzales, 72, were confirmed to have died.
Aguilera’s relative Esmeralda posted a picture of her loved one on Facebook and said, “It is impossible not to be sad. Her absence hurts but her memory will always make us smile.”
A 13th fatal victim has not been identified because his family has not been notified.
California Highway Patrol Chief Jim Abele said that in 35 years he had never been to a crash where 13 people were killed.
The truck driver hit by the bus, which passed an inspection this April but did not have any seatbelts, received only minor injuries.
National Transportation Safety Board officials are investigating the crash, and investigator Dr. Earl Weener said that officials would determine if the bus, made in 1996, had a data recorder to recreate what happened.
With News Wire Services
With CHRIS SOMMERFELDT
