20 taken to hospitals after bus returning from church camp overturns on winding California road

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Twenty people were hospitalized, three with major injuries, after a bus carrying teens and young adults returning from a church camp overturned on a winding mountain road in Southern California, authorities said Monday.

The bus with 36 people aboard crashed Sunday night at a curve on State Route 330 near Running Springs, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

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. 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 The Associated Press. “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.

“A total of 26 patients, including three with major injuries, were treated. Of those, 20 were transported to area hospitals, all by ground ambulances,” said a fire department statement said. The others declined to be transported.

Fire department photos showed paramedics tending to patients, some wearing neck braces, seated in a triage area set up on the highway. There was no fire or hazardous material exposure, the fire department said.

The bus, carrying adults and teens, was traveling downhill back to Orange County after a three-day youth retreat at Camp Nawakwa near the tiny community of Angelus Oaks in the San Bernardino Mountains, said Jarryd Gonzales, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Orange.

About 125 people including teens, staff and volunteers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana participated in the event, he said. They were heading home in several vans and the bus that was involved in the accident.

“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,” Gonzales said in a statement.

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.

State Route 330 is a two-line highway where it curves along cliffsides and through forest areas near Running Springs at an elevation of about 6,100 feet (1,860 meters).

The route was closed in both directions during the investigation, which was led by the California Highway Patrol.

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.