One person died and 32 were injured on Mother’s Day morning after a fiery crash between a tour bus and an SUV on the 60 Freeway in Hacienda Heights.
Authorities were dispatched to the crash at 5:07 a.m. Sunday. When they got there, the SUV was already engulfed in flames, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The driver of the SUV was trapped inside and did not survive the crash.
Flames did not spread to the bus, which had 63 people on board, including its driver, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Thirty-two people were taken to the hospital, with at least two in critical condition.
The cause of the collision was still being investigated on Sunday morning. Photos from the scene showed the windshield of the bus completely shattered and the front bumper smashed in.
The bus was traveling from the Morongo Casino to Koreatown, according to local news reports. Joe Runnel, a passenger on the bus, told KTLA that he was thrown to the floor from the back seat and that people were begging for mercy after the crash.
“Glass was on me,” he said. “There was a lot of hollering.”
Firefighters rushed to help the passengers and wheeled the most seriously injured into ambulances. A hazardous materials squad was called in to check for fuel dangers from the bus. The westbound 60 Freeway between Azusa Avenue and Hacienda Boulevard was shut down for more than two hours as authorities cleared the site.
All lanes were reopened to traffic by mid-morning.
Authorities are asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact the California Highway Patrol at 1-800-TELL-CHP (1-800-835-5247).
This story originally appeared on LA Times
