Authorities find no sign of braking by bus driver
Past tour bus riders hug each other at makeshift memorial at a tour bus stop in Los Angeles on Monday, Oct 24, 2016. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a tour bus crash that left 13 dead and 31 injured early Sunday morning, just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, Calif. The bus was returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip when it plowed into the back of a semi-truck on a Southern California highway. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
People gather at makeshift memorial at a tour bus stop in Los Angeles, Monday, Oct 24, 2016. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision of a tour bus crash that left 13 dead and 31 injured just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Calif. The bus was returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip when it plowed into the back of a semi-truck on a Southern California highway early Sunday. It's not known if alcohol, drugs or fatigue played a role in the crash. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Adriana Umana, originally from El Salvador, an acquittance of the tour bus driver for over 30 years gathers at makeshift memorial at a tour bus stop in Los Angeles, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a tour bus crash that left 13 dead and 31 injured just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, Calif. The bus was returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip when it plowed into the back of a semi-truck on a Southern California highway early Sunday. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
People gather at makeshift memorial at a tour bus stop in Los Angeles, Monday, Oct 24, 2016. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a tour bus crash that left 13 dead and 31 injured just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, Calif. The bus was returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip when it plowed into the back of a semi-truck on a Southern California highway early Sunday. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
California Highway Patrol Indio Division Commander Jim Abele, right, answers questions from the media Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, regarding the tour bus crash in Palm Springs on Sunday during a press conference at his station in Indio, Calif. To the left is NTSB board member Earl Weener. (Stan Lim/The Press-Enterprise via AP)
A makeshift memorial sits Monday, Oct, 24, 2016, in Los Angeles, near a tree for the victims of a vehicle collision. A tour bus returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip slammed into the back of a semi-truck causing multiple fatalities and injuries near Palm Springs, Calif., on Sunday. (AP Photo/Alicia Chang)
Workers remove debris from a semi-truck that crashed with a tour bus on Interstate 10, west of the Indian Canyon Drive off-ramp, in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. A tour bus and the semi-truck crashed on the highway in Southern California early Sunday, killing at least a dozen of people and injuring at least 30 others, some critically, the California Highway Patrol said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)
The damaged front of a tour bus is seen that crashed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Several deaths and injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)
Investigators make pieces of evidence after a tour bus crashed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Several deaths and injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Pena)
Emergency personnel work the scene where a tour bus crashed into the rear of a semi-truck on westbound Interstate 10, just north of the desert resort town of Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Multiple deaths and injuries were reported. (Colin Atagi/The Desert Sun via AP)
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday began investigating Sunday’s deadly tour bus collision, one of the deadliest wrecks in California history.
A truck was creeping along at 5 mph because of utility work that had gone on throughout the night 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.
The crash killed the bus driver and 12 passengers.
