3 killed in New Mexico bus crash

A bus remains on the scene of a multi-vehicle deadly crash Sunday, July 15, 2018, on Interstate 25 just north of Bernalillo, N.M. (Rio Rancho Fire Rescue via AP)

ALBUQUERUQE, New Mexico — Three people were killed in a bus crash on a New Mexico highway over the weekend, authorities said Wednesday.

State medical investigators confirmed the identities of the three bus passengers, and their names were released by the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office.

The fatalities, all women from Mexico who were living in Colorado, were identified as Maria Delosangeles, 65, of Denver; Olga Hernandes de Grajeda, 58, of Rocky Ford; and Maria Doleres Orrantia Camacho, 70, of Loveland.

The crash happened early Sunday after the bus driver lost control while trying to avoid a car that had slammed into the back of a pickup truck on Interstate 25. The bus — headed from Denver to El Paso, Texas — was then sideswiped by a semi-truck.

Sheriff’s Lt. Keith Elder said Wednesday initial reports that the driver of the car was among the dead were incorrect.

Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly multi-vehicle crash involving a bus that occurred on Interstate 25 just north of Bernalillo, N.M., on Sunday, July 15, 2018. (Greg Sorber/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Some callers were breathless and others were crying as they flooded emergency phone lines to report the aftermath of the deadly bus crash.

One caller said there were children bleeding and people were unconscious. Authorities said aside from the three people killed, 24 individuals were injured from the collision. /kga