GRANT COUNTY, WASHINGTON — Twelve passengers on a minibus carrying migrant farm workers were injured Thursday morning when a tanker truck collided with the bus at the junction of State Route 24 and Road 24 Southwest, about 10 miles east of Mattawa. The Washington State Patrol says the bus driver ran a stop sign, and charges are pending against him.
The crash happened around 6:35 a.m. on October 22. A tanker truck driven by David Ramos-Leal, 28, of Moses Lake collided with a minibus driven by Rene Ortiz-Baez, 55, of Yakima. Trooper Jeremy Weber said all the passengers on the minibus were migrant farm workers.
Twelve passengers were hurt, though the injuries were not specified. Seven were taken to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland and three to Trios Hospital in Kennewick. Two were treated at the scene. One other passenger on the bus was not injured. Ramos-Leal and Ortiz-Baez were also uninjured.
A State Patrol report indicates intoxicants did not play a role. The crash was caused when Ortiz-Baez ran the stop sign at the highway’s junction with Road 24 Southwest. Troopers say charges are pending against him.
A portion of SR-24 was closed for more than six hours while investigators worked the scene.
Early reports put the injured at 11 and the crash time at about 6:45 a.m. The later State Patrol update raised the injured count to 12 and gave 6:35 a.m., so I used the updated figures.
Information courtesy of NewsRadio 560 KPQ.
📸 Image(s) used under fair use for news reporting.
