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Multiple deaths in two-car canal crash

Written by John Saiz / Patterson Irrigator

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

“ It never fails — during this time there are like two or three accidents that happen around here every year.”
— Hope Trevino, Westley resident

Skid marks and a broken guard rail show where the vehicles plunged into the canal. Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

WESTLEY — Police extracted five bodies from the Delta-Mendota Canal Tuesday evening following a crash scene earlier that afternoon, while another two crash victims remain missing.

Police suspect at least seven people — six farm laborers from Lodi and the driver of a septic truck — died when two vehicles collided and plunged into the Delta-Mendota Canal at Needham Road at about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday.

A diver with Tracy-based Borges Auto Service helped extract an SUV containing four farm laborers just before 10 p.m., while the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s dive team helped remove a commercial vehicle and its driver earlier in the evening.

“By the time (the dive team) responded there, they knew they were not going to be a rescue team; they’re a recovery team,” said Deputy Tom Letras of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.

The CHP announced Wednesday that victims in the SUV were Isaac Tapia, 16; Elizar Cruz, 19; Adan Martinez, 22; Lucas Martinez, 21; and driver Eulalia Garcia, 34. All were on their way back to Lodi after a day of picking peaches at the time of the accident.

California Highway Patrol reported that the red sport utility vehicle containing the farm workers had been traveling north along the canal at an unknown speed. At the same time, a medium-sized commercial vehicle used for septic-system maintenance was traveling west on Needham Road.

When the vehicles reached the small bridge where Needham crosses the canal, they collided, causing both to smash through a barricade and off the northeast corner of the bridge. Skid marks on the roadway showed one vehicle’s path into the canal. It is still unknown who was at fault in the accident, according to the CHP.

Dozens of emergency responders milled about the scene after responding to reports of the collision, while about 10 field workers relayed what they had seen to police through a Spanish-language translator.

As time passed, family and friends of people thought to be in the canal gathered at the orchards near the bridge, with more than 60 people gathered in all. The air filled with their wails. Helicopters circled overhead.

Many friends and family members waited for more than six hours at the scene as they awaited news of their loved ones. Several people grew exasperated as time wore on.

Araceli Martinez, niece of Adan Martinez and cousin of Lucas Martinez, said it appeared that law enforcement agents and dive team members were just standing around. She expressed frustration that the dive team was keeping family members from getting close to the scene and helping out.
“Why not let some our family do something?” she asked.

“You can tell they ain’t trying,” her brother, Marcos Martinez said.

Firefighters keep a close eye on the waters of the Delta-Mendota Canal from the Needham Road bridge. Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

Letras said it was true that the dive team was in no rush, but that was because the vehicle was already underwater for at least 40 minutes by the time the dive team arrived, meaning there was no possibility of survival for those inside.

The nine members of the dive team were briefed before they went underwater and they wanted to be safe, he said. As it was, dive team members had to deal with rushing currents, cold water, murky conditions and a canal that was 16 to 18 feet deep. The SUV was stuck under a bridge at one point, and the quick currents there made it a challenge, Letras said.

By late evening, the dive team members had spent the maximum number of hours they were allowed to be underwater, which is why the Borges Auto Service diver decided to assist.

After the CHP had removed the doors of the SUV with the "jaws of life," CHP took family members individually to the crash scene to help identify victims. As of midnight, most of those victims had not been identified. However, Letras did say that the car contained three males and one female. Family members said Lucas Martinez and Adriana Garcia were both missing from the SUV, and that Tapia and Eulalia Garcia were among those inside the vehicle.

A Stanislaus County sheriff's helicopter surveys the canal.

The Rev. Michael Walsh of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Patterson helped counsel many people at the scene as they tried to cope with the loss of their loved ones — or in many cases, hold out hope against all odds.

“It’s been a really long day for the family,” Walsh said.

One of those family members, Julian Perez-Cruz, said through a translator that his cousin, Alizar Gomez, was from Chiapas, Mexico, and hoped to save up money to build a house for his parents there.

Meanwhile, the teenage daughter of Eulalia Garcia said she talked to her mother on the phone at around 11 a.m., shortly before the accident. Her mother said she was on her way home.

Unfortunately, major vehicle accidents along the canal are all too common, lifelong Westley resident Hope Trevino said — a tradition that many could do away with.

“It never fails — during this time there are like two or three accidents that happen around here every year,” she said.

Tuesday’s accident came less than three years after a nearby accident on the western bank of the canal claimed the lives of four farm laborers from Stockton. On Nov. 22, 15-year-old Dimas Ornelas was driving a van filled with farm workers when it plunged into the canal. His brother, 17-year-old Miguel Ornelas, was able to grab hold of a side access ladder and climb to safety, but the driver and three other passengers drowned.

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