Update 10:39 p.m. Highway 38 to Big Bear is expected to be closed until sundown Monday for investigation of a tour bus crash with two other vehicles that resulted in eight confirmed fatalities and multiple critically injured patients, according to Cal Trans and the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
"They're removing some bodies tonight, but they won't be able to remove what's left of the other bodies until daylight," Terri Kasinga of Caltrans District 8 said in a phone interview just before 10:35 p.m. Sunday Feb. 3.
"The Mexican consulate is there now," Kasinga said after visiting the crash scene on Highway 38 east of Mentone and Redlands. "He told me the bus was a tour bus from Tijuana."
Kasinga described the crash scene as the worst she's seen in 23 years with Caltrans.
"I had to walk through body parts to get there," Kasinga said. "It's the absolute worst."
The crash scene is in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, near the mouth of Mill Creek Canyon and north of Bryant Street.
Update 10:19 p.m. Eight people were confirmed killed in a tour bus crash with two other vehicles on Highway 38 in Mill Creek Canyon east of Mentone and Redlands, a fire captain said Sunday night.
"We have eight confirmed fatalities," San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Josh Wilkins said in a phone interview just before 10:15 p.m. "We have three vehicles. A smaller sedan and a SUV or a pickup with a trailer. The bus was coming downhill and the other two were uphill, as far as we can tell."
Update 9:49 p.m. Five patients from a tour bus crash with fatalities east of Mentone and Redlands have been brought to Loma Linda University Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said before 9:45 p.m.
"We have two female minor patients, both children, one is critical," LLUMC spokesman Herbert Atienza said in a phone interview, speaking from outside the emergency room. "Three adults, one man is critical, one man is being assessed, and one female adult is being assessed."
Update 8:59 p.m. Multiple fatalities are reported among 27 people injured or killed in a tour bus crash with a pickup truck near the mouth of Mill Creek Canyon on Highway 38, east of Mentone and Redlands.
"We have 27 casualties, including fatalities, a number of fatalities we have not confirmed," San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Josh Wilkins said just before 9 p.m. in a phone interview. "The majority are walking wounded. There are confirmed fatalities."
The crash scene is in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains just north of Yucaipa.
Posted 7:29 p.m. Several people were injured when a tour bus overturned Sunday evening on Highway 38 near the Mill Creek Ranger Station, east of Mentone and Redlands, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The crash was reported just after 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3 on the 38 near Bryant Street, according to the CHP.
At 6:49 p.m. the overturned tour bus was reported blocking all lanes.
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