A friend tells of a frantic call from Ricardo Cibrian that he was caught in the tunnel -- and then the line went dead. Today, his wife is said to be heading to Mexico to retrieve his dental records.
By Jean-Paul Renaud and Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 16, 2007
Trucker Ricardo Cibrian was in a jam. He had just collided into the rear end of a semi-truck in front of him and was immediately hit from behind by another vehicle. He could see that the truck he hit had struck another and that they were both on fire.

Cibrian called a friend from his cellphone to report the accident and to say he was trapped in his truck. The friend told him to try to break the window.

As the friend listened, he heard an explosion and the line went dead.

The phone call was described by Espree Campos, a friend who learned about the call from Cibrian's wife.

Today, Cibrian's wife, Victoria Martinez, was headed to Mexico to retrieve dental records that would confirm her husband was one of three people killed in Friday night's fiery accident on the Golden State Freeway in Santa Clarita, said Campos, who was taking care of the family's two children.

"They told us that they found his body," Campos said.

The man Cibrian called that evening notified Cibrian's wife to tell her she needed to get out to the scene. When she did, there was no sign of her husband.

Authorities today did not identify the victims. Three people were killed and 10 were injured, none critically, in the chain-reaction crash just south of the intersection of Interstate 5 and State Route 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway. Two of those killed were a 38-year-old male driver of a big rig and a 6-year-old boy who was his passenger, said Los Angeles County Coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie. Earlier, authorities had said an infant was among the victims.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation, authorities said.

Officials said the tunnel and truck lanes on southbound I-5 near Santa Clarita would remain closed indefinitely during the investigation into the crash and the tunnel's structural fitness.

Engineers were working around the clock using core samples and investigating the "spalling" effect -- where the concrete has pulled away from the tunnel's steel reinforcement bars -- along the structure's sides, Caltrans spokeswoman Jeanne Bonfilio said.

Morning rush-hour traffic was lighter than usual, coming just hours after authorities reopened the state's major north-south artery after its closure over the weekend.

"We're terribly relieved," said John Lutz, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. He attributed the "much lighter than normal" traffic to people taking alternate routes, leaving earlier or taking the day off from work.

The reopening came sooner than expected.

"They got a surprise this morning, finding the freeway actually open," Lutz said. "Everybody went to bed with bad news and woke up with good news."

Officials had expected the highway to be more congested than usual for southbound commuters, who would have to share their lanes with truckers.

The main lanes on both sides in the Newhall Pass were open as of 3 a.m., but the southbound truck lanes, which include the tunnel, remained closed, said Officer Francisco Villalobos said.

Also closed was the main connector between southbound I-5 and northbound 14, which averages about 6,039 cars daily, Bonfilio said. Officials hoped to reopen it soon, she said.

"The tunnel will be closed indefinitely as they're doing their investigation," Bonfilio said. "There are no [time] estimates at this time."

A 55-mph speed limit was posted on south I-5 this morning for all vehicles, Villalobos said. Typically, the speed limit is 55 mph for trucks, 65 mph for cars.

jp.renaud@latimes.com

tami.abdollah@latimes.com

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this report.

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