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NTSB coming to San Diego to investigate Pala Mesa bus crash

A 5-year-old boy critically injured in Saturday's deadly charter bus crash in Pala Mesa was airlifted to a Riverside County hospital Sunday, authorities said.

PALA MESA, Calif. — A 5-year-old boy critically injured in Saturday's deadly charter bus crash in Pala Mesa was airlifted to a Riverside County hospital Sunday, authorities said. Also on Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board reported it will be sending a team to San Diego to investigate the crash.

The boy was among the 21 passengers in a charter bus traveling from El Monte to Tijuana that crashed Saturday morning on rain-slicked southbound Interstate 15 south of State Route 76 in Pala Mesa, said California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Latulippe.

RELATED: 3 dead and 18 injured after bus rolls off freeway near SR-76

Three women were killed in the crash and 17 others were taken to hospitals, including Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar and  Temecula Valley Hospital, Latulippe said. Three passengers suffered major injuries, he said, and officials were determining the other injured patients' conditions Sunday morning.

The boy was airlifted from Inland Valley Medical Center to the Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley to be treated for a head wound, Latulippe said.

The accident happened at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday when a charter bus owned by Executive Lines Inc., based in El Monte, slid off I-15 in a heavy rainstorm, down an embankment and landed on its roof. Most of the injured passengers were either ejected or escaped from the bus, which was equipped with seat belts, the CHP said. Few passengers were wearing seat belts, Latulippe said.

George and Soo Chen said they were still in shock after witnessing the crash. 

"We saw it swerve a little bit and then when it hit the side of the road it just flipped, tumbled over and flipped like six or seven times," said George. "It looked like it went down a hill." 

The Chens rushed over to help as did many other drivers. A friend of theirs who is a physician tried to administer CPR on one of the women who didn't survive. 

Federal investigators said Sunday they would send a team to investigate the charter bus crash. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board tweeted that a team of four was being dispatched to the area. A spokesperson told News 8 they will look at three broad areas for their investigation: "the human, the machine and the environment."

The human in this instance would be the driver and investigators will look at their hours of service and training. 

The bus driver, from Whittier, was questioned by officials at a station and voluntarily gave a blood sample, Latulippe said. The driver, whose name was not released, cooperated fully with investigators, he said.

NTSB will also look at the weather and roadway conditions at the time of the crash and look at the bus itself.

The U.S. Department of Transportation website said that the bus company's records show no reports of crashes and that it passed all inspections over the past two years.

Latulippe said the bus was stabilized by firefighter crews so that it could be raised and allow crew members to extricate the body of a woman who was pinned underneath. The bus was towed to a CHP evidence yard for processing to see if there were any steering and braking problems.

North County Fire Protection District officials said they were assisted in the accident rescue by crews from Cal Fire, Vista, Camp Pendleton, CHP and Pala.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly indicated that 18 injured victims were transported to hospitals.

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