One Dead and 32 Injured as Tour Bus Collides with SUV in Los Angeles on Mother's Day
- Victor Nwoko
- May 12
- 2 min read
One person is dead and dozens more have been injured after a tour bus collided with a disabled SUV early Sunday morning in Hacienda Heights, California.
The fatal crash occurred just after 5 a.m. local time on State Route 60. When officers arrived on the scene, they found a Nissan Pathfinder engulfed in flames and a tour bus with extensive front-end damage and a shattered windshield. Emergency responders confirmed that the SUV driver was trapped inside the vehicle and died at the scene.
Two passengers aboard the tour bus were critically injured, while approximately 30 others were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment. An additional 31 bus passengers were reportedly uninjured. Authorities said the tour bus was returning to Koreatown in Los Angeles after a trip to a casino in the Coachella Valley. Early reports indicated the bus was originally believed to be coming from Morongo, but officials later clarified it had departed from the Indio area near Palm Springs.
Preliminary findings from the investigation indicate the SUV had broken down on the road before the tour bus rear-ended it, forcing the bus across lanes of traffic and into a highway guardrail. The violent crash resulted in the closure of two eastbound lanes on SR-60 for several hours. The highway was fully reopened by late morning.
Passenger Joe Runnel, who was aboard the bus at the time of the collision, described the scene as chaotic. “I was thrown from the back seat of the bus to the floor about three or four seats down,” Runnel said. “Glass was on me … there was a lot of hollering. People were begging for mercy.”
An eyewitness driving on SR-60 at the time said the crash unfolded rapidly. “It happened so quickly… a lot of chaos and then just red lights,” they recalled. “It’s very sad that it had to start like this, especially because it’s Mother’s Day.”
Authorities have not yet released the name of the SUV driver. The California Highway Patrol confirmed that officers are actively collecting witness statements and other evidence to determine the exact cause of the crash.
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