(CNS) Posted Tuesday August 10, 2010 - 9:06am
At least three and possibly as many as six people were reported killed and as many as 12 were reported injured in a multi-vehicle collision involving athletes and coaches from California Baptist University of Riverside, south of Bishop on the east side of the Sierra Nevada range, officials said today.
Wendy Rice -- a Cal Baptist cheerleading coach who also coached at high schools in Los Angeles and Orange counties -- was identified as one of those killed in the crash, according to Mark Wyatt, Cal Baptist's vice president for marketing and communication.
Rice, a mother of two children, and husband Jason were residents of Corona, according to a bio page on Cal Baptist's website.
Rice previously coached at Glendora High School, Centennial High in Corona, and Corona Del Mar High, according to her bio page on the Cal Baptist web site.
At Glendora High, she led cheerleading squads to seven straight national finals, according to her bio.
The collision was reported five miles south of Bishop on Highway 395 at 8:24 p.m. Monday, California Highway Patrol Officer Dennis Cleland said, speaking from Bishop.
Three Ford vans carrying members of the Cal Baptist cross-country team were heading northbound, in a line, one after the other, Cleland said.
A southbound Ford sport utility vehicle went on the southbound shoulder, then back on the southbound pavement, and overturned through the center divider, striking the second Cal Baptist van and bursting into flames, Cleland said.
Rice was driving the van that was struck, Wyatt said in a statement on the school's website.
A northbound Subaru car then struck the burning sport utility vehicle, Cleland said.
"We have three confirmed fatalities, with possibly six dead, and 12 injured,' Cleland told City News Service early today.
As of 3:30 a.m. today, a spokesman for the Inyo County Coroner said the death toll in the collision was three.
At least two of the fatalities were believed to be from the sport utility vehicle, and one of the fatalities was from the Cal Baptist van, Cleland said.
Of the 12 reported injured by the CHP, two of them were in critical condition, and they were both from the Cal Baptist van, Cleland said.
The collection and distribution of information about the collision and the number of fatalities has caused some confusion, Cleland said at about 1 a.m.
"We understand this is a confused situation,' Wyatt told City News Service about 1:30 a.m.
"This is indeed a tragedy of immense proportions.'
A dozen Cal Baptist student-athletes were hospitalized in Bishop and Lone Pine, Wyatt said.
The Cal Baptist cross-country team was headed to Mammoth for pre-season high-altitude training, Wyatt said.
Bishop is about 290 miles north of Los Angeles, in Inyo County.
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