Thai students believed killed in crash; bodies stranded
FRESNO, Calif. — Rescuers are struggling to recover a pair of bodies from a car that crashed down a cliff two weeks ago and became lodged in the middle of a California river raging with snowmelt, officials said Tuesday.
Thailand’s Consulate in Los Angeles said it believes the bodies belong to two Thai exchange students vacationing in California who were reported missing after they didn’t return to their motel.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said it can’t confirm the crash victims’ identities, but it is working with the California Highway Patrol and Thai authorities to find a way to retrieve the car and bodies, sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said in a statement.
The car went off the road 75 miles (120 kilometres) east of Fresno in the steep Sierra Nevada mountains. It crashed 500 feet (152 metres) below into the Kings River, swollen with snowmelt after a record breaking winter, officials said.