Highway pole rips through bus in California crash, killing 5

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.

Apparently running late for its 1:30 a.m. driver switch, the bus veered off the highway shortly before 3:30 a.m.

“Thank God I was OK”, Rivera said, adding that she had scratches and pain on the back of her head and in her back.

It appears that the bus swerved and hit a sign pole which pierced the bus.

The CHP identified the driver as 57-year-old Mario David Vasquez of Los Angeles, who was hospitalized with major injuries.

Helicopters carried victims to area hospitals, but details about their locations and conditions were not immediately available.

At least five people have sadly lost their lives after a tour bus crashed on a Californian highway.

The bus started its journey in Mexico, stopped in Los Angeles on Monday night and was on its way to the Sacramento area Tuesday, Sacramento TV station, KKHTK reported.

Photos from the scene showed emergency workers climbing into the windows of the upright bus. The northbound lanes of the road were closed following the crash.

The pole cut right through the center of the bus, nearly splitting it down the middle.

Northbound Highway 99, a main artery for the San Joaquin Valley, was closed with no estimation on when it would reopen. The bus company, Autobuses Coordinados USA, received a “satisfactory” rating with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on May 17. Officials said the investigation is still in its early stages, and the official cause is unknown. Others were ejected and were lying in a ditch, Warnke said.