90023_43819_Martinez_Bus_Crash
Here's a clip from 1976 showing the chaotic aftermath of a bus accident in Martinez, California. Martinez is a city located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Clip begins with a view of the overturned bus, seen from an overpass. At least three tow trucks are idling next to the bus. In the distance, dozens of people stand and watch.
A group of men hunch over as they pull a person from the bus. The person’s face is covered with blood.
Workers with hardhats appear to be attaching cables to the underside of the bus, which is facing skyward. On the overpass, two cranes stand, their cables extending down to the bus.
Paramedics and others look over a man who is on a stretcher that’s laying on the ground.
A woman is carried up a yellow grass-covered hill. Three men carry her; her left arm hangs off the stretcher. Another pair of paramedics carry a person on a stretcher, moving across a field; a blanket covers this person.
A man wearing brown corduroy pants lays on a stretcher as three men prepare to lift up his stretcher.
Under the overpass, a priest stands near several bodies that are covered with blankets and plastic. The priest has his hands clasped, as if praying.
A very wide shot of the scene of the accident is followed by another overhead shot of rescue workers moving the man with brown corduroy pants on a stretcher. There’s also an overhead shot of at least 15 rescue workers next to the overturned bus, pulling survivors out of the bus and tending to one that’s on a stretcher.
A white ambulance drives by. The name “CADILLAC AMBULANCE” is on the side of the vehicle.
Rescue and/or emergency officials stand under the overpass; beside them lay more than a dozen bodies, which lay on the ground and are covered by sheets or blankets.
A panel of the bus is shown -- perhaps its interior roof -- partly covered with blood. Also visible is a sleeping bag, a woman’s left high heel shoe, books, the base of a seat, and papers.
The bottom of a dead person’s shoe, still attached to the person, shows splotches of blood. The dead person is wearing either baby blue slacks or a baby blue dress.
A black man looks upward as he steadies a pulley. Perhaps he is eying the crane whose cables attach to the pulley he is trying to steady.
Two California Highway Patrol officers sit in their vehicle. The driver’s door is wide open. The passenger is resting his head against his left hand, as if tired and/or sad.
Several vehicles travel on the overpass, heading towards the camera. One vehicle is an RV, or recreational vehicle, which travels down an offramp.
The camera then focuses on an area beneath the overpass. This area appears to be where the overturned bus was. The area is now empty: no vehicles, people, or wreckage from the accident is present.
In the final two shots, the woman on the stretcher mentioned earlier is shown being carried to an awaiting ambulance that looks like a hearse; it’s not clear if she is still alive. In the next shot, in the distance, a helicopter descends onto the scene of the accident.