South Sutter traffic tragedy

A San Jose woman was killed and at least four other people were injured Friday in a Highway 70 collision involving an Amtrak California bus, two vans and two cars.

The accident occurred at 1:29 p.m. about one-quarter mile south of Marcum Road and closed Highway 70.

The driver of a 1995 Acura Integra, Vang Yang, 22, of Sacramento, apparently caused the collision by trying to pass the northbound bus on the busy, two-lane road, said Capt. Jim Young of the California Highway Patrol, who credited the bus driver with avoiding more casualties.

The bus remained upright in a shallow ditch on the east side of the highway.

"That says a lot right there," said Young.

"I avoided everything I could, but it was impossible," the bus driver, Terry Campbell, 54, of Shasta Lake City, said.

Two passengers were taken to Rideout Memorial Hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

The dead woman, Rosa Mendoza, 40, was removed from the remains of her 1993 Nissan van more than 90 minutes after the collision.

After apparently striking the left front corner of the bus, the Acura hit the van head-on, said Young.

Celeste Hewitt was following the southbound van in her subcompact car, two vehicles back. She was on her way home to Santa Cruz County after visiting her mother in Oregon.

The disintegrating van "looked like foil rolling back at me, lighter than air," said Hewitt.

"It's senseless to pass with bumper-to-bumper traffic. People just died because someone was in a hurry," said Hewitt.

Hewitt tried to avoid the van but the front of her car had front-end damage. She was uninjured.

"It was terrible," she said, shaken.

"My angels were flying with me," she said.

One occupant of the Acura was airlifted to a hospital and another transported by ambulance. Their names were not immediately available.

Capt. Dave Samson of the Sutter County Sheriff's Department said Mendoza had been in the Yuba-Sutter area before the accident.