4 killed, 21 injured in California bus crash

USPA News - Four people were killed and nearly two dozen others were injured, some of them seriously, when a bus and several other vehicles were involved in a crash in Southern California near the state border with Arizona, officials said on early Wednesday. Terri Kasinga, a representative for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), said a semi-trailer truck on Interstate 10 in Blythe, close to the Arizona state line, jackknifed at around 2 a.m., causing steel pipes to be scattered on the east- and westbound lanes.

Four vehicles were caught up in the collision before a tour bus "struck the pipes in the number one lane and it turned over," she said. Officials from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said four people died at the scene of the accident while nearly two dozen others were injured. Seven seriously injured bus passengers were airlifted from the scene and 14 others were treated for minor injuries such as bumps and bruises. Kasinga said a total of 32 passengers were on board the bus, which belongs to El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express and was traveling from El Paso, Texas to Los Angeles. The driver of the bus was not injured in Wednesday`s accident, which happened after the bus had stopped in Phoenix for a driver change. East- and westbound lanes of Interstate 10 were blocked as a result of the collision, causing traffic to be backed up for miles in both directions on the main road linking Southern California and Arizona. Caltrans said all lanes in both directions were expected to remain closed until at least 2 p.m. local time. Wednesday`s deadly crash comes just over a month after a FedEx truck collided head-on with a charter bus carrying high school students on Interstate 5 near Orland in northern California, killing 10 people and injuring about 30 others. The charter bus, which was carrying 44 prospective students for Humboldt State University, was en-route to the school`s spring preview event.