Families grieve as grim search continues

WESTLEY – Victims' families struggled with grief and began making plans for services Wednesday as California Highway Patrol officers and Stanislaus sheriff's deputies continued to search the Delta-Mendota Canal south of Westley for the last victim of an accident that took the lives of seven people.

The accident occurred Tuesday just after noon, when a Ford Explorer carrying six farmworkers collided with a truck, plunging both vehicles into the canal at Needham Road, southwest of Westley.

The truck driver and all the occupants of the Explorer were killed.

Rescue crews worked into the night Tuesday to recover the vehicles. The body of the truck driver, Luis Llamas Perez, 45, of Merced, was recovered, along with four occupants of the Explorer: Eulalia Garcia, 34; Isaac Tapia, 16; Adan Martinez, 22; and Elizar Cruz, 19, all of Lodi. Garcia was believed to be the driver of the Explorer.

The body of a sixth victim, 17-year-old Adrianna Garcia of Lodi, was found in the canal, about 10 to 15 miles south of the accident site, near Newman on Wednesday morning. Family members identified the body at the site.

The seventh victim, believed to be Lucas Martinez, 21, of Lodi, according to relatives, has not been found.

Helicopters flew over the canal to search for the seventh victim, and officers were patrolling the canal, CHP spokesman Mayolo Banuelos said.

A preliminary investigation determined that the Explorer was traveling north on a paved frontage road on the east side of the canal, and failed to stop at a stop sign at Needham Road, Banuelos said. The truck, owned by United Site Services of Sacramento, was traveling west on Needham and was about to cross a bridge over the canal when the collision occurred, Banuelos said. Investigators have not determined the speed of the vehicles, Banuelos said.

The occupants of the Explorer were from three families, according to Luis Magaña, a friend of the families. Adan and Lucas Martinez were brothers, and Eulalia and Adrianna Garcia were sisters, he said. They were working their last day in a nearby peach orchard, and were ready to move north to pick pears in Sacramento County, Magaña said. They were neighbors in Lodi, he said, and originally were from Guerrero and Chiapas states in Mexico.

Llamas Perez was a septic truck driver for United Site Services, and had been servicing portable toilets in an nearby orchard before the crash. He had worked for the company for eight years. Llamas Perez was married, with three children.

"We've lost a great family man and dedicated team member," said Kevin Mellifont, regional vice president for California for United Site Services, in a prepared statement.

Family and friends of the farmworkers were organizing plans for fund-raisers to help pay for funerals, and to fly the bodies to Mexico.

"Right now, we're going to ask some friends for help and post signs in the stores to try to ask for donations to have a funeral," said Araceli Martinez, a cousin of Adan and Lucas Martinez. "They are all human beings and we're here to do something for them."

Adan and Lucas Martinez lived together in Lodi, and sent money to family members in Mexico, Martinez said.

Some family members had criticized what they considered the slow response from the Stanislaus County sheriff's dive team Tuesday. Team members arrived about an hour and 10 minutes after they were called, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

"We certainly sympathize with the families and what they are going through," Undersheriff William Heyne said. "Unfortunately, there was nothing that we could have done faster, or differently that would have changed this tragic outcome."

The Lodi News-Sentinel and Associated Press contributed to this report.