At least five people killed in California bus crash – reports

A charter bus veered off a highway in Northern California and struck a pole early on Tuesday (August 2), killing at least five people, authorities and local media reported.

The bus was en route to Sacramento from Southern California at about 3:30 a.m. local time (1030GMT) when it suddenly swerved off of California State Route 99 and crashed, CBS Sacramento reported.

“The bus struck the pole at the right front portion, and then the pole somewhat went through the center of the bus,” a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol (CHP), Moises Onsurez said.

At least five of the roughly 30 people aboard the bus were killed, Onsurez said.

“Five additional passengers have been flown, med-a-flighted to area hospitals. In addition to that we don’t have the total number of injured or transported,” he said.

The cause of the incident in Merced County, about 100 miles south of Sacramento, was under investigation, the CHP said in a statement.

The crash forced the closure of a northbound stretch of the highway, the statement said.