The California Highway Patrol on Sunday, February 23rd, released the name of two women who died in a rollover accident on Interstate 50, North County, Saturday, February 22nd. The first is 67-year-old Maria De La Luz Diaz, from Riverside.
The second is 73-year-old Julia Perez Cornejo from Pasadena. The women were among 20 people — minus the driver — traveling in a charter bus, and one unidentified 23-year-old female from Mexico also died in the accident.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the remaining seventeen passengers who haven’t been identified suffered injuries ranging from broken bones to severe trauma. Some of the passengers were taken to the Palomar Medical Center and Temecula Valley Hospital.
Others ended up at the Inland Valley Medical Center. The youngest person in the ill-fated bus is a 5-year-old boy, and the oldest is a 75-year-old woman, both from Mexico and with life-threatening injuries.
CHP investigations have not uncovered any impairment on the part of the driver who got identified as a 52-year-old male from Whittier. The driver had minor abrasions and stayed at the scene to help with the investigation.
The bus was traveling from El Monte, an area close to Los Angeles en-route to Tijuana, Mexico. An eye witness told CHP that the bus hydroplaned in the rain, lost control and veered off the highway.
It hit an embankment, flipped and went down the hill. Some passengers were able to free themselves while others got trapped inside, including two of the women who died.
The CHP is still investigating the accident and will update the public once they have more information. Federal investigators are working with the agency, and have visited the scene of the accident.
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