At least eight people died and more than 25 were injured in a tour bus accident Sunday night in California's San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles.
The death toll is expected to rise, after the 42-passenger tour bus flipped, ejecting several people and caving in the roof above the driver, state police told
CNN.
Officials said more than 25 others having been taken to local hospitals, six of whom were in critical condition. Some of those were children.
Officials are investigating the cause of the accident.
The tour bus was returning from a trip to California's Bear Mountain Resort, officials said. The identities of the victims have not been released,
though they are believed to be skiers from Tijuana, Mexico.
"It's a terrible scene, a horrific scene. There's multiple victims," California Highway Patrol Officer Mario Lopez told CNN.
Two other vehicles, a Ford pickup truck and Saturn Sudan, appear to have been involved in the crash. Authorities say they believe the tour bus might have rear-ended the sedan, which subsequently collided with the pickup truck that was pulling a trailer.
The status of the occupants in the other two vehicles was not reported.
First responders had difficulty gaining access to the scene at first, police said. The accident occurred in the mountainous area of State Route 38, between Mentone and Forest Falls, an area defined by its narrow, winding roads.
The tour bus company, Scapadas Magicas of National City, Calif., did not comment on the accident.
Lopez said there were no reported crashes involving the company in the past two years, and they received a "satisfactory" rating during a December review.
The accident came less than a day after a bus crash in Massachusetts. A bus carrying 42 high school students and their chaperones slammed into an overpass in Boston. Unlike the California crash, no fatalities were reported, though upwards of 35 people were injured, according to the state police.
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