Three people die and 18 are hurt after bus veers off highway near San Diego and flips on to its roof
Three people were killed and at least 18 were injured after their ‘charter-style’ bus veered off the side of a Southern California freeway and turned over onto its roof in what authorities believe is a ‘solo vehicle accident.’
The incident took place on Saturday morning along the 15 Freeway in North San Diego County, according to authorities.
The North County Fire Protection District said the accident happened just south of Highway 76.
Firefighters rushed to the scene to extricate several people who were trapped and injured in the wreckage.
Rescue workers rush to the scene of a bus that veered off the 15 Freeway in North San Diego County on Saturday morning
Surveillance footage shows traffic backed up on the 15 Freeway as authorities investigate
Authorities said that three people were killed and at least 18 were injured in the accident
Officials said that firefighters rushed to the scene to extricate several injured passengers from the overturned bus
The three people who died were pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities
‘We are brokenhearted to report we have 3 deceased on scene,’ the fire department said in a tweet.
‘The charter bus lost control and went over the side of the embankment, it appears to be a solo vehicle accident,’ Stephen Abbott, the fire chief of North County Fire told KNSD-TV.
Fire Capt. John Choi said that extricating the passengers was difficult because the bus was rolled over on an embankment and needed to be stabilized.
By 11:15am local time, all of the passengers and the driver had been extricated from the bus and transported to hospital.
Traffic in the area will be impacted for the next few hours while authorities investigate, according to Choi.
Charter buses are frequently driven in the area to transport gamblers to one of the 10 Indian-owned casinos in the San Diego County area.