“It's a tragic accident, but it's nice to be able to recover the bodies, especially for the families.”
— Deputy Tom Letras
Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department
 SUV with victims pulled from canal. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s dive team and a diver from Tracy-based Borges Auto Service recovered four Lodi residents from a 1991 Ford Explorer the night of the incident, and the dive team also recovered a Merced septic truck driver earlier that evening.
Another Lodi passenger surfaced between Newman and Crows Landing on Wednesday morning, and a sixth passenger from Lodi surfaced Thursday south of the crash scene.
“It’s a tragic accident, but it’s nice to be able to recover the bodies, especially for the families,” said Deputy Tom Letras of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.
The Lodi victims were returning home from picking peaches in a Westley orchard at the time of the accident, witnesses said.
On Tuesday, emergency responders recovered the bodies of driver Eulalia Garcia, 34; Isaac Tapia, 16; Adan Martinez, 22; and Elizar Cruz, 19, all of Lodi, after extracting them from the Ford Explorer.
The dive team recovered United Site Services driver Luis Llamas Perez, 45, of Merced, from his truck earlier in the evening.
Adriana Garcia, 17, of Lodi, was recovered Wednesday, and Lucas Martinez, 20-year-old nephew of Adan Martinez, was recovered Thursday afternoon.
Tragic scene
California Highway Patrol reported that the Explorer had been traveling north on a paved road along the canal at an unknown speed at about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday and appeared to have run a stop sign at the time of the crash. At the same time, the septic truck was traveling west on Needham Road.
 mourn: A roadside memorial for four people whose van landed in the water in November 2005 sits within a mile of the recovery efforts from Tuesday’s drownings, visible in the background. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator
Dozens of family and friends showed up to the scene, waiting several hours for their loved ones to be recovered. The Explorer was not removed until about 10 p.m., which did not sit well with some of the victims’ family members.
“You can tell they ain’t trying,” said Marcos Martinez, nephew of Adan Martinez and cousin of Lucas Martinez.
Marcos Martinez’s sister, Araceli Martinez, expressed frustration that the dive team was keeping family members from getting close to the scene and helping out.
“Why not let some of our family do something?” she asked.
Sheriff’s department representatives said the county does not have a full-time dive unit, and members had to respond from their homes. Dive team members, who store their equipment at the Modesto airport, arrived at 1:50 p.m., after being dispatched about 70 minutes earlier.
“Our dive unit is not designed to be a rescue team,” said Sgt. Paul Yotsuya, sheriff’s dive team leader. “When we arrive, we are in recovery mode.”
The nine members of the dive team, eight of whom went in the water, were briefed before they went under water, Letras said. Dive team members contended with rushing currents of as much as 3,800 cubic feet per second, cold water, murky conditions and a canal 16 to 18 feet deep. The San Luis-Delta Mendota Water Authority helped out by adjusting controls in Tracy to reduce flows. Still, the Explorer was stuck under a bridge at one point, and the quick currents there made it a challenge, Letras said.
By late evening, dive team members had spent the maximum number of hours they were allowed to be under water, which is why the Borges Auto Service diver decided to help.
The Rev. Michael Walsh of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Patterson counseled many people at the scene as they tried to cope with the loss of their loved ones.
“It’s been a really long day for the families,” Walsh said.
Other victims surface
The next day, CHP officer Russ Caplan was patrolling the canal at about 11:15 a.m. when he spotted the body of Adriana Garcia about 10 to 15 miles south of the crash site. Emergency responders recovered her body near the citrus groves of Shiraz Ranch between Newman and Crows Landing before family members identified her.
 Tragedy: People console one another after arriving at the scene of the accident Tuesday. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator
Hickman said the fire department chose the Patterson-area spot to recover the body because it was safer for rescuers than the place where Martinez was initially spotted.
Though people can remain under water for days and sometimes months, Hickman said the amount of time it takes for someone to surface can depend on climate conditions. Bodies will surface more quickly when the water is warm, he said.
A deadly history
Tuesday’s incident may be one of the biggest accidents to take place along the Delta-Mendota, but it is certainly not the first.
Four people died on the gravelly western bank of the canal Nov. 22, 2005, less than a mile from Tuesday’s crash scene. In that case, 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.
Then, on Feb. 14, 2006, 44-year-old Westley resident Francisco Isquierdo drowned in the canal after his car went into the water about half a mile south of Hamilton Road.
On Sept. 18, 2006, irrigator Edgar Lisaraga, 19, a Mexican resident who had been living in Westley, was recovered near Ward Avenue after he had driven into the canal just north of Zacharias Road three days before.
Lifelong Westley resident Hope Trevino said farm-related accidents in general are common in the area.
“It never fails — during this time, there are, like, two or three accidents that happen around here every year,” she said.
Many of those accidents have been work-related and were investigated by the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration. However, a spokeswoman from the state Department of Industrial Relations said this week that CalOSHA will not get involved in Tuesday’s crash, because both the farm workers and Llamas Perez were off-duty at the time.
Luis Magaña, of the American Friends Services Committee, a group that helps migrant families sort through difficult situations, said he hopes to see extra measures to prevent such incidents from happening again. For instance, there could be larger signs in Spanish to warn people of the dangers of canals.
“We have to do something,” he said. “We need to try to talk with the sheriff or maybe the state.”
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Well, I know some of you are going to say that I'm mean, but come on...when are we going to stop blaming someone else for mistakes that are being made by drivers who either were not paying attention or whatever?
If you are driving a vehicle in America then you better be able to read the rules and signs etc. that are posted in ENGLISH!!
I'm sorry that all these people died, it breaks my heart to know such young lives are gone forever, but if this woman had not ran the stop sign this tradjedy wouldn't have occurred...
This mentality of saying that signs need to be posted now in Spanish to prevent further accidents is ridiculous
There are signs posted everywhere on the canal stating that no one is suppose even be on those roads, they are private roads etc..that truck driver was legit because he was doing his job and that brings up another thing...
Everyone is focusing on these farmworkers, well folks, this innocent truck driver lost his life because of someone else's negligance and no one seems to be remembering him.....he has a family that is in mourning also....
I also take offense when reading that these family members want to blame the Sheriff's Department for not trying to help etc..
GIVE ME A BREAK
These deputies do not see color when they are called to come and help....you folks are always trashing the Police when something doesn't go your way and you are the ones that are constantly bringing up the race card....
Those poor Deputies are saddened by this ordeal also, and instead of thanking them for putting thier lives on the line by going into that dangerous canal, all you know how to do is complain...
I will give you the benefit of the doubt and hope your insane remarks are because you were grief stricken....