Victims trapped in burning car after being hit head-on; Highway
closed for eight hours
Hollister – Four people died in a fiery accident on Highway 152 west of the Don Pacheco Y Tuesday morning after a large delivery truck struck a sport utility vehicle head-on, sent it careening down a hill, trapped the occupants and burst into flames, police said.
California Highway Patrol officers have not yet identified the four victims inside a Toyota sports utility vehicle who died after being struck head-on by a large bobtail delivery truck about 9:20am. The driver of the truck, 24-year-old Christopher Yu, suffered moderate injuries and was flown by Stanford Life Flight to San Jose Regional Medical Center, according to CHP Officer Chris Armstrong. Yu’s condition was unknown at press time Tuesday.
The accident closed both lanes of Highway 152 for more than eight hours, and motorists were diverted onto Highway 156 at the Don Pacheco Y.
While police had little information to provide on the specifics of the crash Tuesday, Armstrong said the bobtail delivery truck was heading westbound on Highway 152 between Dunn Lane and the Don Pacheco Y in southeastern Santa Clara County, when for an unknown reason Yu veered into the eastbound lane. Yu collided with a 2005 Freightliner big rig driven by Raul Olmos, and while Olmos was uninjured his truck sustained moderate damage.
“I don’t know why he lost control, but when I saw him come to me I thought he would hit me in the front,” said Olmos, a driver for USFilter Transportation, Inc. in Milpitas. “The first thing that came to mind is try to escape to the right. When I look back, all I see is a bunch of fire.”
After colliding with Olmos’ truck, Yu continued to travel in the eastbound lane and hit the Toyota SUV head-on, causing both vehicles to burst into flame and sending them down a hill on the south side of the highway, Armstrong said. The four occupants in the Toyota were trapped inside the twisted, fiery wreckage and died, he said. The exact cause of death was unknown Tuesday.
Yu had already gotten out of his truck and was being cared for by passing motorists when firefighters from the California Department of Forestry/South Santa Clara County Fire District arrived at the scene minutes after the accident, according to Capt. Paramedic Dustin Hail. Firefighters used water and flame-retarding foam to extinguish the burning cars, he said.
“The biggest thing was to put out the fire to see what we had,” Hail said.
CHP officers arrived on scene moments later, Armstrong said.
A toxic smoke of burning rubber, metal and paint drifted up from the bottom of the hill as rescue workers surveyed the scene and waited for the coroner to arrive and begin the grim task of removing the bodies from the smoldering wreckage. The body of the Toyota’s driver could be seen from the edge of the highway, but the person’s gender could not be identified. The ages and genders of the three other passengers were also indeterminable.
Armstrong said the identities may not be known until relatives of the victims call the CHP looking for their loved ones. Further investigation will be necessary before the CHP will know whether any people involved in the accident were wearing their seat belts, or if drugs or alcohol contributed to the crash, he said.
