Crash Kills 3 in Religious Group

Three people were killed and five others injured when a bus packed with members of a Florida religious group plunged down a freeway embankment near downtown Riverside shortly before dawn today. Authorities said the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

The bus carried 22 passengers and was part of a nine-vehicle, Miami-bound caravan that left Los Angeles about 3 a.m. in order to “beat the traffic,” according to a spokesman for the religious group, the Temple of Love. The injured, all of them wearing white robes and turbans, were rushed to Riverside Community and Riverside General hospitals, where they were treated for broken bones, internal injuries and cuts, California Highway Patrol officials said.