Tourists killed in crash: Community demands changes

Every day, hundreds of people travel from around the world to the Sonoran Desert of Imperial County, California.

Their destination, Salvation Mountain.

It’s a hill covered in half a million gallons of paint with religious messages spread throughout.

Hank Winchester, a reporter in Detroit, Michigan said, ” It was Larissa’s idea to find this location Salvation Mountain. She wanted to go there to take pictures. ”

Larissa Oliveira De Araujo was Winchester’s live-in nanny from Brazil.

Winchester described Larissa as, ” She’s not just a caretaker, she became a member of our family. She was like our daughter, and she loved exploring and traveling. ”

For her 28th birthday, Larissa left Michigan to explore the golden state.

She and three friends planned to road-trip down the California coast, from San Francisco, and made their way down to San Diego.

On the way back, they stopped by Salvation Mountain.

“The last images she posted on Instagram all are from that location, Salvation Mountain,” Winchester said.

On October 2, around 12:30 pm, Larissa and her friends crashed with a county van at an uncontrolled intersection on an unpaved road just seven miles south of Salvation Mountain.

The two vehicles collided at the intersection of English and Schrimpf Roads.

A witness told News 11, ” When I arrived, I noticed there was a vehicle on the left-hand side right above the canal. So, I went ahead and got off and tried to help out, but it was pretty gruesome. ”

One of Larissa’s friends in the backseat died on the scene.

Larissa was flown to a nearby hospital where she later died.

Winchester couldn’t believe she was gone.

However, as tourists, why were they traveling down an unpaved back road?

According to California Highway Patrol (CHP), State Route 111, the main route through the Coachella Valley, was closed for five miles causing detours in the Niland area.

A witness recalled, “People [were] just kind of finding their own way through here to get across, especially like I said, Highway 111 was down.”

Shannon Wild, a greeter at Salvation Mountain added, ” [Drivers] all had to come over by this canal and come out through the canal. Even in broad daylight, it’s so hard to see. I could see where somebody would try to go and not see another car coming. ”

CHP confirmed both vehicles were going more than 55-miles per hour.

CHP officer, Javier Amezcua , said, “Usually when vehicles are approaching an intersection where the view is obstructed, the vehicle code states that you should actually reduce to approximately 15-miles per hour until you can clear the intersection before proceeding.”

Even still, Winchester believes there should be stop signs.

” I understand that it’s a rural area and you can’t have a sign everywhere but you’ve [have] two young ladies who’ve just lost their lives. Another young man who’s still in critical condition. After talking with police, it’s not uncommon that there are accidents either at that intersection or others nearby. So, something needs to change. ”

Residents agreed.

Wild said, “[The roads] could be very dangerous, there are no stop signs.”

Another local confirmed that accidents happen on English Road quite often.

We reached out to Imperial County for an interview, however, they sent a statement saying in part, ” We are currently evaluating the area of concern and will be conducting engineering studies to determine if additional improvements are warranted. ”

In light of this tragedy, Winchester is hoping for change to protect the community from losing another precious life.

He said, “Larissa was this bright light in our house and I see it still in my daughter.”

CHP is still conducting an in-depth investigation.

Also, Coachella Valley Water District was the county van involved in the accident, and they’ve refused to comment on the incident.

ORIGINAL STORY:

https://www.kyma.com/news/crash-kills-two-near-niland/1128670981