Crash Victim Undergoes Surgery

LOMPOC — As authorities worked long hours collecting clues to the cause of a fiery highway crash that killed 11 people, a survivor from Canoga Park underwent more than three hours of surgery Thursday to repair her injuries.

Rosa Hernandez, 47, was still in critical condition at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital after the surgery.

Hernandez suffered second- and third-degree burns over 30% of her body, including her abdomen, back, thighs and arms. Doctors worked for 3 hours and 15 minutes Thursday removing burned tissue and repairing two broken bones in Hernandez’s forearm.

Meanwhile, California Highway Patrol investigators continued to comb the scene for clues to what caused the crash, which left both a van and pickup truck wadded like paper balls and burned to black hulks.

“According to the preliminary investigation, it appears that the pickup went over the double yellow line and hit the van,” CHP Sgt. Ben Ruth said.

It appears that gasoline ignited the wreckage, said Jim Everly, a spokesman from the Buellton CHP station.

It was unknown whether drugs or alcohol had played a part in the crash. Toxicology tests on both deceased drivers are expected to be completed Friday, Everly said.

“The investigators are trying to put everything together, interview all the parties prior to the accident to see if they can figure out what they were doing and where they were going,” Everly said. “We’re just trying to put all the pieces together.”

The crash occurred about 10 p.m. Tuesday on California 1 near Lompoc. A Ford pickup truck slammed into a Chevrolet van. Eight of the 12 people in the van were killed. All three people in the truck also died.

Authorities believed the van’s occupants--many of them Mexican immigrants--had spent the day selling roasted corn in Lompoc.

Two occupants of the pickup truck were identified Thursday as Michael Anthony Bucci, 42, and his girlfriend, Charlotte Gwynn Wright, 29, both of Lompoc. Bucci was identified through dental records, Everly said.

Identification is proving to be a difficult task for investigators because the victims were so badly disfigured in the crash. Authorities plan to identify other victims through dental records and survivor accounts, Everly said.

Among the survivors is Poli Hererra, 20, who suffered only scratches and was released Wednesday from Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital. David Perez, 31, is being treated for internal injuries at Lompoc District Hospital and another man, whose name was not released, is being treated for massive head injuries at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital.

Doctors believe Hernandez probably will survive, said Larry Weinberg, a spokesman for the Grossman Burn Center.

“Her injuries are serious enough to be life-threatening . . . but her chances for survival and recovery are excellent,” he said.

Doctors removed dead and dying tissue from the burned areas on Hernandez’s body and replaced it with cadaver skin.

Hernandez is expected to undergo more surgery Monday when doctors are expected to remove more burned tissue and begin permanent skin grafting, probably from other places on Hernandez’s body.

Hernandez is expected to stay in the hospital another two or three weeks and will follow that with treatment, Weinberg said.

On Wednesday, neighbors gathered in front of Bucci’s modest Vandenburg Village home. Two old cars stood on blocks in the driveway near a basketball hoop and child’s bicycle.

Friends and neighbors said Bucci, a carpenter, had been staying at home recently, with his arm in a cast because of a work-related injury.

Bucci and Wright were returning from visiting the Goleta home of his estranged wife and his two young children, said a friend who gave his name only as J. P.

As neighbors stood outside the home Wednesday, Wright’s sister drove up. After J. P. embraced her, she burst into tears, telling him she could not believe the report that her sister was dead and had come to the house to see if she was not somehow still there, alive.