Last Updated on January 7, 2023 by CCAR Staff
SAN BERNARDINO >> The investigation into what caused a church bus to lose control and crash on Highway 330 in the San Bernardino Mountains on Sunday continued Monday while the victims were released from the hospital.
Twenty-one people were hurt, seven seriously, as the bus headed down from Big Bear following an annual retreat, officials said.
One person was released from the hospital Sunday evening, said Robert Acosta, assistant to the senior pastor of Iglesia de Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final in Downey. The rest were expected to have been released by the end of the day Monday from Loma Linda University Medical Center, he said.
“The church will be there ready to help them in any way so they can get back on their feet,” Acosta said.
The crash happened at 2:11 p.m. about two miles north of the 210 Freeway, on the highway between Highland and Running Springs. The bus hit the rear of a 2013 Nissan Versa before it overturned, officials said. No one in the Versa was injured.
California Highway Patrol investigators on Monday had not determined what caused the small bus to lose control, said CHP spokesman Juan Quintero.
The bus is being held by CHP as evidence as investigators perform a mechanical inspection to determine whether any mechanical failure was to blame, he said.
“That’s a normal procedure when a crash of this magnitude comes into our hands,” Quintero said.
Several of the first responders said Sunday that they smelled the distinct odor of overheated brakes when they first arrived on scene. Another witness told a churchgoer not involved in the crash that she saw smoking tires.
The highway was shut down for more than four hours as crews rescued and triaged trapped passengers, a tow truck removed the bus from the road and investigators began their work.
“We commend the firefighters, the medical personnel and the CHP for their work,” Acosta said. “God bless them for the quick work they did to save these people and for preventing others from getting hurt.”
The bus that crashed was part of a caravan of buses carrying more than 200 women from an annual church retreat meeting in the Big Bear area, Acosta said. Most of the buses were rented, but the one that crashed is owned by the church, and has been inspected regularly by the CHP, he said.
“We have been attending these retreats – some for men, some for youth, and this was for women – for the last 12 or 14 years,” Acosta said. “This is the only time anything like this has happened. By the grace of God, it wasn’t worse.”
