Sheriff-coroner says bus crash killed 4, not 5

A charter bus veered off a central California freeway before dawn Tuesday and struck a pole that sliced the vehicle almost in half, killing five people and sending at least five others to hospitals, authorities said.

Eva Maria Morales wept Wednesday as she talked about her father, Jose Morales Bravo. The cities or towns where the victims were from was not released.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said rescuers pulled “bags of body parts” from the bus along with survivors.

A Merced Sun Star reporter captured a picture of the bus veered off the highway underneath the Hammatt Avenue sign.

The bus, operated by Autobuses Coordinados USA, was heading to Washington state on State Route 99.

The California highway patrol says the charter bus was pierced when it swerved into a support pole, trapping some of the wounded in their seats for hours. CHP officers visited the company’s headquarters on Monday.

Still, he would not have driven if he were drowsy, and there were always two drivers who took turns at the wheel, family members said. Among the possible factors being examined are driver fatigue and mechanical problems. The most severe driver violation, which happened on February 5, 2015, involved a driver who was operating a vehicle on a suspended license. The pole split the white bus down the middle, tearing through the vehicle as it kept moving forward, authorities said.

In a Facebook message written in Spanish, Vasquez’s daughter, Mariana Peralta, told the Los Angeles Times that reports that Vasquez might have been driving seven days a week and that he was losing sleep after his wife’s death were “a lie”. Vasquez was hospitalized with serious injuries. Onsurez said they did not have information about the company Vasquez worked for.

The bus carrying Sanchez and about 30 others on a pre-dawn journey through California’s agricultural rich San Joaquin Valley had somehow plowed head-on into a highway pole that almost sliced it in half. That’s 22 percent, which is significantly higher than the national average of just five percent. The bus was inspected in April and had three violations, including a lack of or a defective brake warning device. There was also an instance of non-working headlights, a tire worn down so much the inner material was exposed, and two instances of worn, welded or missing steering system components.

(AP Photo/Scott Smith). California Highway Patrol officers investigate the scene of a charter bus crash on northbound Highway 99 between Atwater and Livingston, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. It had made a stop in Los Angeles, had a scheduled one in Livingston and one in Sacramento before it could reach its final destination.

At least five people on the bus were killed, Onsurez said.