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6 killed, 34 hurt in California bus crash

22 July 2010 19:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Six people died and at least 34 were injured -- four of them critically -- in a crash involving a Greyhound bus and two other vehicles on a highway in Fresno, Calif., early Thursday, the California Highway Patrol said. APA reports quoting Los Angeles Times

The accident occurred about 2:15 a.m. local time on northbound California Highway 99, highway patrol spokesman Officer Kirk Arnold said. The bus apparently struck an overturned SUV that was in the highway’s fast lane, then possibly struck a second vehicle before traveling down an embankment and slamming into a large eucalyptus tree, Arnold said.

"We’re still trying to piece everything together," he told reporters. Authorities believe at least one of the people who died was a person in the overturned SUV, he said.

The bus was en route from Los Angeles to Sacramento with 35 people on board, Greyhound spokesman Timothy Stokes said. Arnold said the bus had apparently made a stop in Fresno.

The highway’s northbound lanes were closed, Arnold said. Greyhound representatives were on scene. The cause of the crash was still under investigation.

Six people sustained moderate injuries in the crash, and another 24 had minor injuries, he said.

Relief buses were sent to the scene to pick up passengers who were uninjured, Stokes said.