11 Newport School Athletes Hospitalized In 91 Crash [UPDATE]

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — A dozen people were hurt Thursday — 11 of them minors belonging to a female basketball team headed from Orange County to Beaumont — in a five-vehicle collision on the Riverside (91) Freeway that forced the temporary closure of multiple traffic lanes.

The crash was reported about 1:20 p.m. on the eastbound 91 at Adams Street, in the vicinity of the Riverside Auto Mall, according to the California Highway Patrol. A passenger van and four vehicles collided in the middle of the freeway.

Three lanes were blocked, prompting the CHP to issue a SigAlert at 1:30 p.m. as traffic stacked up through west Riverside. At 3:20 p.m., Caltrans officials said all lanes were cleared from the wreck, but residual traffic lasted for several hours.

The 2003 Ford passenger van involved in the crash was a basketball team from Newport Beach Christian School, headed to Beaumont for a game. The school's principal tells Patch that it was the school athletes in the van. The CHP reports that everyone aboard was hospitalized.

"One child may have sustained a broken arm, and another had bumps and bruises but was otherwise okay," Principal Kevin Cyprian said.

According to the CHP, it was the basketball team's driver who started the chain-reaction crash. The Orange County man was headed east on the freeway, with the girls ranging in ages from 11 to 16, when he didn't see the stopped traffic ahead and slammed into the back of a Jeep, which hit a a 2013 Chevrolet Blazer. The Blazer then hit a Toyota Sequoia, which hit a 2013 Dodge Avenger.

"For reasons still under investigation, as [the van driver] approached the stopped traffic, he was unable to stop in time and collided with the Jeep," CHP Officer Dan Olivas said.

"Emergency personnel arrived on scene and assessed the injuries to multiple parties," Olivas said. "All passengers of the Ford van sustained injuries ranging from minor to major and were transported to local hospitals."

The driver of the Chevy was also hospitalized, he said.

Riverside Fire Department personnel treated the injured and transported them to various local hospitals including Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Riverside, Riverside Community Hospital and the Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, according to reports from the scene.

RIVCO: EB SR-91 just west of Adams Street all lanes clear. #Caltrans8
— Caltrans District 8 (@Caltrans8) November 16, 2017

— City News Service, Ashley Ludwig, Patch Staff, Renee Schiavone Patch Staff contributed to this report / Image via Kevin Bankston, Via Unsplash