26 Hurt In Church Bus Crash: 'I Woke Up And Heard Everybody Screaming'

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CA — Firefighters and California Highway Patrol officers raced to the remote San Bernardino County mountains overnight, where a church bus overturned, injuring 26 people Sunday night.

Multiple agencies responded to the scene of the mass casualty incident on State Route 330 southbound near the community of Fredalba south of Running Springs. California Highway Patrol officers are investigating the cause of the bus overturning.

A total of 20 injured people were taken by ambulance to area hospitals. The remaining individuals on board the bus declined EMS transport or treatment, Ryan Beckers, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department, said.

Just before 9 p.m., firefighters arrived at the scene to find the bus on its side in a turnout. The subjects inside were self-extricating through the vehicle's roof hatch.

"The passengers, a mix of adults and teens, were traveling downhill on the way home to Orange County, after attending a camp in the San Bernardino Mountains near Angelus Oaks," Beckers said.

The first patients were en route to the hospital within 15 minutes of the crews initiating a triage protocol. By 10:30 p.m., all patients were on the way to hospitals.

The highway was closed both directions from Live Oak near Running Springs to Highland Avenue in Highland during the incident. That reopened as of Monday morning.

A Mass Casualty Drill that the San Bernardino County Fire Department practiced earlier this year helped with the response, said Beckers.

"This past February, County Fire initiated a major multi-agency MCI drill," he said. "The scenario featured an overturned school bus with adults and teens on board. Several of the rescuers on scene last night participated in that drill, providing them with valuable experience in this kind of incident."

The attendees were heading home after a three-day youth retreat at Camp Nawakwa, according to a statement released by the Diocese of Orange. Several vans and the bus were involved in the accident, according to that statement.

Of the injured, Cyntia Ramirez, a 21-year-old community college student, was taken to the hospital for a stiff neck, and her sister had a fractured arm, according to a report from the Associated Press. Ramirez said she hit her head against a window when the bus toppled.

“All of a sudden the bus started to shake, and it started like to swerve, and the driver lost control,” she told reporters. “We were rocking from side to side and the bus fell over.” The bus ended up on its side and someone helped pull her out of a hatch on the roof, Ramirez said.

Though many were taken to the hospital by ambulance, others declined to be transported. Fire department photos showed paramedics tending to patients, some of whom were wearing neck braces, seated in a triage area set up on the highway.

Jarryd Gonzales, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Orange, stated that approximately 125 people, including teens, staff, and volunteers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana, participated in the event. He shared a prayer on Facebook, inviting others to send. thoughts and prayers to the youth and families.

Gonzales thanked the fire department and CHP for their assistance in a released statement: “We extend our deepest gratitude to the first-responder agencies for their prompt and professional response in safely evacuating passengers and ensuring they received proper medical attention."

Youth leader Prisilla Mendoza, 20, said she had dozed off in the moments before the crash.“I was asleep and I just woke up and I heard everybody screaming,” she said.

Mendoza said she blacked out after the crash and doesn't remember how she got out of the bus.

Some passengers returned to the church on Monday to retrieve their luggage.

Father José Félix Troncoso said a half-dozen patients remained at the hospital for treatment for fractured fingers and at least one head injury. Troncoso said he made the trek up the scenic mountain road to lead Mass for the group on Sunday. He left at 4 p.m. and got word about the accident around 10 p.m.

“It’s very beautiful, but getting up there is a process,” Troncoso told reporters in Spanish. State Route 330 is a two-lane highway that curves along cliffsides and through forest areas near Running Springs at an elevation of about 6,100 feet.