California Tour Bus Crash: 13 Victims Killed Near Palm Springs ID'd

PALM SPRINGS, CA — As a team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators and the CHP updated the public on the weekend's deadly tour bus crash, coroner's officials on Monday released the names of a dozen victims.

The crash, which happened early Sunday morning along westbound Interstate 10 near Desert Hot Springs, killed 13 people, according to the CHP. Another 31 people were hurt.

The Riverside County coroner's office assigned case numbers for 10 women and three men, all off whom were identified Monday:

• Teodulo Vides, 59, of Los Angeles
• Yolanda Mendoza, 69, of Los Angeles
• Isabel Jimenez Hernandez, 66, of Los Angeles
• Rosa Ruiz, 53, of Los Angeles
• Gustavo Green, 62, of Los Angeles
• Zoila Aguilera, 72, of Los Angeles
• Teodulo Vides, 59, of Los Angeles
• Milagros Gonzales, 72, of Los Angeles
• Conception Corvera, 57, of Palmdale
• Aracely Tije, 63, of Los Angeles
• Dora Galvez de Rodriguez, 69, of Los Angeles
• Elvia Sanchez, 52, of Los Angeles
• Ana Gomes de Magalion, 71, of Los Angeles

Meanwhile, the CHP hosted a press conference on Monday with officials from the NTSB, stressing that federal investigators will conduct a multi-pronged investigation into the crash, including a review of driver's activities during the casino junket and whether fatigue or medical issues contributed to the collision.

The driver was identified as Teodulo Vides of Los Angeles.

"Our mission is to understand not only what happened but why it happened and to make safety recommendations to avoid having it happen again," National Transportation Safety Board investigator Earl Weener said during a briefing in Indio.

California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele and Weener stressed that no determination has yet been made on the cause of the crash. Weener said the cause likely would not be determined during the NTSB on-site review, which is expected to continue for five to seven days.

But Weener said the condition of the bus driver will be a key part of the probe.

"We'll try to determine if the driver had any condition which may have contributed to the crash," he said. "This could include any potential medical condition, vision impairment, impairment by alcohol or other drugs or whether the driver was fatigued. We'll also look to see if the driver was distracted as a factor."

According to the California Highway Patrol, the driver of the charter bus slammed into a semi-truck around 5:15 a.m., leading to the tragedy.

Pictures from the scene showed firefighters using ladders to get into the passenger compartment of the bus, which had been peeled back from the vehicle's undercarriage about one third of its length.

CHP officials said the big rig was traveling at 5 miles per hour when the bus hit it, but it's not clear how fast the bus was going. The posted speed limit is 70 mph.

Abele said the severity of the crash impacted hardened CHP officers and fire rescue workers.

"In almost 35 years, I've never been to a crash where there's been 13 confirmed fatals," Abele said, noting that the impact was so severe that workers needed more than an hour to search for all of the bodies in the mangled coach. "So it's tough for all of us, the CHP personnel who handle it, the firefighters who handle it. It's been rough."

The bus had taken gamblers on a junket to the Red Earth Casino at Salton City, about 25 miles south of Indio, and had been en route back to the Los Angeles area with 44 passengers aboard.

Image credit: Chris Tarpening/KESQ-TV. Used with permission.

City News Service contributed to this report