Van Accident Victims Sold Fruit Up North

Lauro Reyes and a dozen friends lived in a small duplex in East Los Angeles, supporting themselves through a weekly seven-hour trek up Interstate 5 to sell fruit along roadside corners in San Jose.

Laden with mangoes and strawberries purchased at Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market, the Mexican nationals headed north to an area where the competition was less fierce.

Newly arrived in Los Angeles, these immigrants had found work in hot, endless days of hawking their goods and exhausting nighttime trips home. The highway was always nearly deserted on the predawn road trips back to Los Angeles. The pace was wearying, but the work was steady.

Until Monday.

That was when a tractor-trailer slammed into the back of one of the vendors’ vans in a caravan traveling down Interstate 5 near Buttonwillow, a town south of Fresno.

Five of Reyes’ young relatives and roommates were killed; three others were seriously injured. Four of those who died had been in the United States only 15 days.

On Tuesday, Reyes, who had been traveling in another van, kept a vigil for his injured friends and cousins at a hospital in Fresno. Meanwhile, other friends and family members gathered at the Eastside duplex on Winter Street, where a framed photo of the late singer Selena graces the wall and automobile seats around the room double as couches.

The victims, who came from two families in the Mexican states of Puebla and Chiapas, were no different than many other immigrants, friends said.

“Everybody who came here, came to work, to be able to live,” said Bernal Dominguez, a friend who usually joined the group in the trip north. “When you are in Mexico, you’re poor and you want to have something to give your sons.”

Now, parents of the dead are trying to raise money to come from Mexico to recover their children’s bodies, relatives said.

“We are trying to find different ways to deal with this, how to get the bodies back to Mexico,” Lauro Reyes said. “But we really don’t know what to do.”

The group had traveled north last Wednesday with 150 boxes of mangoes they purchased at the Grand Central Market.

Late Sunday, Reyes and 11 others piled into vans after four days of fruit-selling in San Jose. One van, about an hour behind the other, never made it home.

“We got to Los Angeles at 4 in the morning and we were waiting for them,” he said. “Finally, we went to bed. We were wondering when morning came why they hadn’t arrived. We were worried and we were waiting and waiting. They never arrived.”

About 2 a.m. Monday, an 18-wheel truck driven by Pio Rivera, 48, of Stockton, smashed into one of the vans from behind. The packed vehicle carrying eight workers exploded in flames.

Rivera apparently didn’t see the van, which witnesses said was traveling relatively slowly, “until it was right there in front of him,” California Highway Patrol Sgt. Ted Eichman said.

Officials are investigating whether the van’s taillights were on or if the truck driver’s fatigue played a role in the accident, which was the highest multiple-fatality accident in western Kern County in the last five years.

The use of drugs or alcohol was ruled out, Eichman added.

The dead included Rodrigo Reyes, 16, Joyce Reyes, 20, and Carlos Garcia, 20. The names of the two others--a newlywed couple from Chiapas--had yet to be released Tuesday evening.

The three survivors were taken to Fresno’s University Medical Center for treatment.

On Tuesday, Mauricio Reyes, 25, remained in critical condition with burns over 50% of his body, doctors said. Oscar Reyes Alexis, 21, was in serious but stable condition. Another vendor also named Rodrigo Reyes, 17, the van’s driver, was in serious condition after sustaining burns over 12% of his body.

Meanwhile, friends of the victims struggled with the tragedy.

“These were our friends,” Lauro Reyes said, his eyes moist, fighting back tears. “They asked us if there was work in the United States and we said there is work. There is work, but it is hard work.”

Times staff writer Hector Tobar contributed to this story.