Thread: Van with at least 18 inside rolls, killing two

I heard on the radio two were killed.

http://www.signonsandiego.com

Van with at least 18 inside rolls, killing one

By Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

8:33 a.m. March 8, 2006

DULZURA – A van loaded with at least 18 suspected illegal immigrants crashed in the predawn darkness Wednesday just north of state Route 94, killing one young woman and seriously injuring at least three other people, the California Highway Patrol reported.
One of the injured is a 5-year-old girl.

Officers at the crash site said several victims were ejected from the dark blue Ford Econoline van shortly after 4:30 a.m. as it lurched across Honey Springs Road near the junction with SR-94, rolled off the road and over a barbed-wired fence before coming to rest upright in a field, across from the Hollenbeck Canyon Wildlife Area.

Border Patrol agents sweeping the area for other crash victims later found one man in his 40s wandering in a field about two miles away with injuries to his head and knees.
“There may be more (crash victims) in the bushes who turn up later,” said CHP Officer Brian Pennings.

Pennings said the van wasn't being pursued, that it just appears to have crashed.

Border Patrol agents working in the area “spotted the commotion and found the crash,” he said.

The dead woman, believed to be 18 to 20 years old, was not immediately identified.

Three of the survivors, including the man found two miles from the crash site, were flown by helicopter to hospitals. The other two victims who were airlifted were identified as a 5-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, both of whom were severely injured, Pennings said. The rest were driven to hospitals by ambulance, he said.

Five of the 18 confirmed victims were female, Pennings said.

A man suspected of driving the van was later found and held by Border Patrol agents at their SR-94 checkpoint, and CHP investigators were interviewing him there, Pennings said.

Crash survivors told CHP officers that they had been hiding in the bushes a short distance north of the crash site to be picked up, and had been in the van only a few minutes before the crash occurred.

The van apparently drifted off the pavement on Honey Springs Road just before the SR-94 junction, Pennings said.

The driver cut back hard onto the pavement and slashed diagonally across the road, but lost control. The vehicle then rolled across the road and into the field, with its occupants being thrown out as it went, officers said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greg Gross: (619) 293-1889; greg.gross@uniontrib.com

A few articles claim 2 people were killed.

http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_067110238.html

Van Carrying 19 People Overturns, Kills Two

(CBS) DULZURA, Calif. Two people were killed and a roadway was damaged Wednesday when a van with 19 people inside rolled over on a rural East County road, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

A blue van overturned on Honey Springs Road, a quarter-mile north of Route 94, shortly after 4:30 a.m., according to the CHP.

A tire rim gouged out a large portion of the roadway and authorities closed the northbound lanes of Honey Springs Road from Route 94, the CHP reported.