Dec 3, 2007 1:28 pm US/Pacific
CHP: Second Car May Have Caused Bus Crash
AMADOR COUNTY (CBS13) ―
The CHP says there is new information about a deadly tour bus crash in Amador County. Officers now say a second car may have hit the bus and left the scene.
The crash on Highway 88 at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday happened when a truck slammed head on into the bus and triggered a chain reaction when three cars tried to avoid the wreck, said California Highway Patrol Officer Adrian Quintero. Nine people from those cars were injured, he said.
The crash, in a rural area southeast of Sacramento, also tipped the bus on its side, injuring eight bus passengers, Quintero said.
Investigators are looking into reports that the driver of the pickup had been driving recklessly before it crashed into the bus, Harmon said. But now the CHP also tells CBS13 that they are looking into whether another car hit or clipped the bus first before the truck and bus collided.
"The seat belt saved my life," bus driver Carmelino Solon, 51, told the Stockton Record, as he surveyed the damage. He was not injured.
The bus, operated by Burlingame-based U.S. Asia Tours, had been returning to San Francisco from the Jackson Rancheria Casino when the accident occurred, said CHP spokesman Craig Harmon. Most of the passengers were from the Bay Area.
The highway was closed for nearly eight hours after the accident and reopened at 2 a.m. Monday, CHP officials said.
The pickup driver's identity has not been released.
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