'A very tragic night' up on highway 395

Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze today reconstructed for officials up there the horrific crash scene last night along U.S. 395 south of Bishop in the Owens Valley. A southbound SUV carrying cross-country runners from the San Diego area crossed the center divider about 8:30 p.m. and smashed head-on into a northbound van carrying members of the cross-country team from California Baptist University in Riverside. Two women in the SUV were killed, as was the driver of the van, coach Wendy Rice, a 35-year-old mother of two. A Subaru heading northbound smashed into the wreckage. The Subaru driver and the 13 students in the van are among the injured. The first Inyo sheriff's deputy to arrive found vehicles and victims on fire.

Bennet Kessler, the dean of Eastern Sierra journalists, has covered more than her share of crashes on 395. "A horrible scene of death, fire and suffering," she wrote in today's story at SierraWave and KSRW Radio:

Inyo Sheriff's Deputy Shane Scott saw the collision in his rearview mirror. The CHP said Deputy Scott went directly to the burning Ford SUV and, with no regard for his own safety, pulled a man from the vehicle. He went back to help a second person who was screaming for help. The intense flames kept Deputy Scott from a second rescue. CHP officers said that a third person, ejected from the Ford SUV and on fire, walked past the deputy and died on the highway....

At the Inyo Supervisors meeting, Inyo Sheriff Bill Lutze reported that along with his deputies, fire and emergency crews from Olancha, Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, Bishop, Mammoth Lakes and Long Valley had responded to the disastrous scene Monday night. Sheriff Lutze called it a "very tragic night." Bishop Police and CHP units also responded.

CHP officers said that the injured were transported to Northern Inyo and Southern Inyo Hospitals. Two of the critically injured were flown to Renown Medical Center in Reno and one to West Hills Hospital in the San Fernando Valley. Orthopedic cases were transferred to Mammoth Hospital.

The Cal Baptist students had been heading to Mammoth Lakes for high-altitude training. More coverage: LAT, Riverside Press-Enterprise