A charter bus full of French tourists crashed on a Highway 101 overpass just north of Soledad, California at 3:30 p.m. this past Tuesday, April 28. The maroon Orion Pacific bus  flipped  onto  its  side  after  crashing  into  the  guard  rail  on  the  rural  two-lane southbound  overpass  about  100  miles  southeast  of  San  Francisco.  Five  passengers were killed and dozens were injured. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the crash that shut down the highway for hours, but it appears that the bus was the only vehicle involved.

The crash ejected four passengers from the bus, sending one over the side of the road and onto the railroad tracks 70 feet below. The passenger that fell to the railroad tracks and two others died at the scene. Two more passengers died at area hospitals. There was  a  total  of  36  passengers  on  the  bus,  including  34  French  tourists.  Four  of  those injured  were  under  the  age  of  18,  including  a  13-year  old  girl  who  was  airlifted  to  a hospital in Fresno. Patients are being treated at eight other hospitals. The names of the deceased have not been released.

The driver of the tour bus was also killed in the crash. The Monterrey County Coronerʼs office  identified  the  driver  as  John  Egnew,  69,  of  Corona.  He  died  of  head  and  neck injuries after he was thrown from the bus. Authorities said that Egnew had another  prior accident in 2005 where he struck and seriously injured a woman in a Nevada crosswalk. In the 2005 accident, Egnew admitted to not seeing the victim crossing the street before he struck her with the bus.

The tour started in San Francisco and was en route to Southern California, where the tourists were due to fly out of Los Angeles and back to France. The group had been in the U.S. since April 19 and made stops on Tuesday in Monterey and Carmel before the crash.  The  French  consulate  in  San  Francisco  had  been  notified  and  confirmed  that travelers from France were on board, but no further details were provided.

Orion Pacific, the family owned, luxury charter coach company based in Orange, was unavailable  for  immediate  comment.  It  is  not  clear  who  had  chartered  the  bus  that crashed,  nor  was  Orion  Pacificʼs  safety  record  available  for  comment  pending  the accident  investigation. The  company  has  been  operating  since  1985,  according  to  its website.

The Red Cross is helping coordinate housing and other services for three families who survived  the  crash  and  were  released  from  hospitals,  said  Paula  Herrera,  executive director of the Monterrey-San Benito chapter.

Currently,  the  authorities  do  not  know  what  initially  caused  the  bus  crash,  but  are looking  into  the  possibility  of  lax  federal  oversights  and  a  failure  to  implement  safety regulations on tour buses.