UPDATE: Death toll increases to 13 in Calif. bus crash

Associated Press

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.

A tour bus slammed into the back of a semi-truck on a Southern California highway early Sunday, killing 13 people and injuring at least 31 others, some critically, authorities said.

The passenger bus was going much faster than the truck, but it’s not yet clear if it was speeding on Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele told reporters.

“The speed of bus was so significant that the trailer itself entered about 15 feet into the bus,” he said at a news conference. “You can see it was a substantial impact.”

Abele said it was not known if alcohol, drugs or fatigue played a role in the crash about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The USA Holiday tour bus was returning to Los Angeles after a visit to the Red Earth Casino in Thermal, about 25 miles southeast of Palm Springs.