Desert Hot Springs, California: They had spent the night at a casino near the Salton Sea, so many of the passengers had fallen asleep as the USA Holiday tour bus rumbled west on the 10 Freeway on the way home to Los Angeles.
Before dawn, they were jolted awake by screams and a grinding cacophony of metal on metal.
Thirteen people were killed and 31 others injured on Sunday morning when the bus crashed into a big rig truck near Palm Springs, officials said.
Federal and local investigators are probing the cause of the crash, the deadliest in California in several decades.
The bus slammed into the back of the truck’s trailer, crushing the front third of the cabin. Most of those who died appeared to have been sitting toward the front of the bus.
“I was awakened by the sounds of people screaming for help,” said passenger Ana Car, 61. “I noticed a heavyset woman lying in the centre aisle to my right yelling, ‘My legs! My legs!’”
The crash occurred at 5.17am on Sunday in Desert Hot Springs as the bus headed back to Los Angeles from a casino in Thermal near the Salton Sea.
CHP officers in marked patrol cars had been periodically slowing and stopping traffic along that stretch of the 10 Freeway overnight for a Southern California Edison crew that was working on electrical wires that crossed over the roadway.
Traffic had begun to move again before the collision, Sgt. Daniel Hesser said, but speeds were much slower than the typical freeway flow.
The front of the white tour bus was crumpled and largely destroyed, suggesting the bus was travelling much faster than the truck, officials said. They cautioned that it was too early to say whether the bus driver, who died in the crash, was speeding.
Police and rescuers came across a horrific scene of destruction.
“In almost 35 years, I’ve never been to a crash where there’s been 13 confirmed [fatalities],” said California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele. “It’s tough ... you never get used to this.”
By noon, the remains of the bus had been towed away. Carpeted seats and passengers’ purses and backpacks had been cleared from the road.
Bodies that had lined the side of the road in white bags were removed, two at a time, in a slow procession of coroner’s vans.
Officials said the bus did not have seat belts. As a result, some of the victims suffered facial injuries involving soft tissue and bones and may require plastic surgery, said Dr. Ricard Townsend at Desert Regional Medical Centre.
Investigators will look at whether the driver fell asleep, had a heart attack or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Abele said. They will also investigate the possibility of a mechanical failure.
Authorities hope to recover a data recorder that would reveal how fast the bus was travelling and whether the driver braked before impact. The bus, manufactured in 1996, may not have one on board, officials said.
“Essentially, we just don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle,” Abele said. “We may not be able to determine exactly why the accident occurred because the driver has been killed.”
Passengers said they boarded the USA Holiday bus Saturday night at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue for a trip to the Red Earth Casino in Thermal.
In the past, the bus company had used Facebook and Instagram to advertise such trips, saying a $20 (Dh73.45) ticket covered round-trip travel and 4 1/2 hours of gambling.
The company has advertised similar trips from the San Fernando Valley and Southeast Los Angeles to Las Vegas and casinos across Southern California.
Identifying the victims and some survivors could take days, Abele said, because some were not carrying identification cards or were separated from their belongings when they were taken to the hospital.
The family of Rosalba Ruiz emerged from the Riverside County coroner’s office in tears. The 53-year-old mother of three and grandmother of five from Los Angeles was killed in the crash, said Claudio Fernandez, who said Ruiz was married to his uncle.
Ruiz enjoyed going to casinos and did so often, sometimes weekly, Fernandez said.
“She used to love to go to the casinos, that was part of her hobby,” he said.
“You don’t believe that will happen,” he added. “We went to three hospitals and couldn’t find her and we couldn’t get answers.”
Then, they were told to go to the coroner’s office.
Other families also made the grim journey to Perris.
Lester Pelaez of Lancaster and his family arrived in search of news about his brother-in-law’s mother, who he believes was on the tour bus.
The family has been calling and visiting hospitals but have not been able to find her, he said. But a passenger at one hospital had told a family member that someone matching her description was on the bus.
Officials received calls Sunday from Mexican, Australian and Japanese consulates. The majority of the victims were Latino, Abele said. “We’re assuming many of them are from Los Angeles because that’s where the bus originated,” he said.
