Authorities: Bus driver didn't brake before hitting big rig

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Ana Car didn't remember the sudden impact -- only that she woke up among dead and injured passengers in a dark tour bus filled with screams.

The retired factory worker had spent an evening gambling at a desert casino and was asleep when the bus heading to Los Angeles smashed into the rear of a slow-moving tractor-trailer.

The crash killed the bus driver and 12 passengers and injured 31 other people.

"I can't believe how many died," she said, sobbing Monday as she recovered from bumps, bruises and a sore back. "It was so horrible. These images are going to stay in my head for life."

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the collision, one of the deadliest crashes in California history.

The truck was creeping along at 5 mph because of utility work along Interstate 10 near Palm Springs. That's when the bus, moving as fast as 65 mph, slammed into it, authorities said.

"There's no indication whatsoever that the driver applied the brakes," said California Highway Patrol border division chief Jim Abele, citing the power of the impact and the fact police found no skid marks.

Initial reports said four people were dead, but many bodies were found later in the front part of the bus that ended up inside the trailer.

"They just kept pulling bodies stuck in between the seats," he said. "It's just due to this bus going so fast into the back of the truck. Why he did that, that's what we're trying to find out."

Car, 61, was sitting toward the back of the bus when it rammed the truck at 5:17 a.m. Sunday.

She awoke to find herself standing amid bodies flung everywhere.

She clambered to a broken window to yell for help, afraid she would be trapped if the bus caught fire. Motorists who stopped to help pulled her out the broken window.

"I couldn't stand when they got me out," Car said. "I sat on the side of the road, watching them pull so many people out. I saw so much blood and two dead bodies. I was so scared."