7 feared dead in canal crash

Perez’s body was recovered at 5:19 p.m. with a septic truck he drove for Sacramento-based United Site Services, a company that rents portable restrooms.

The four other bodies, recovered at 11:30 p.m. are believed to be from the sports utility vehicle.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff Department is continuing its search for two remaining bodies. A sheriff’s department spokesman said the canal has various screens along the way to keep debris from getting in the power systems. The next trap is in the Merced County area, and officials will be checking there throughout the day.

Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department dive team members saw at least four bodies in the second vehicle, a red Ford sport utility vehicle, as they worked to pull it from the water after 10 p.m. They spent four hours trying to use a tow truck to pull it from the strong current that kept it lodged under the canal bridge.

Witnesses reported that the SUV was carrying six farmworkers traveling north on a frontage road along the eastern edge of the canal when it struck the truck, driving westbound on Needham Road, just after noon. Authorities did not identify those riding in the SUV, and said two more bodies could be found in the canal or in the vehicle.

Family and friends said the people in the SUV were returning home to Lodi after working in a nearby peach orchard.

The accident scene is about 18 miles southwest of Modesto.

Witnesses reported the accident to the CHP at 12:15 p.m. When members of the dive team arrived at 1:50 p.m., they didn't expect to pull victims out of the canal alive and focused their efforts on recovering bodies.

About a dozen family members and friends stood weeping and wailing, their faces pressed to the canal's chain-link fence, pleading with authorities and calling relatives from their cell phones in the midst of a crush of about two dozen reporters and cameramen. Two priests from a Patterson Catholic church did their best to console those grieving in the shade of an almond orchard.

Natalidad Garcia, 22, of Lodi believed her sisters -- ages 18 and 34 -- were among the six people in the SUV.

Some relatives criticized the dive team's response. Divers entered the water about three hours after the accident was reported.

"They could have gone in sooner," said 16-year-old Marcos Martinez, who believed his cousin and uncle were victims. "If it was their family members, they would have jumped in quick. We've been here for a couple of hours."

Sheriff's deputy Tom Letras said the eight divers had to take precautions before entering the swift water, which runs nearly 20 feet deep in that area. By the time the dive team was assembled and had picked up the equipment from Modesto Airport, "there wasn't going to be a rescue made," Letras said.

The dive team began by dragging weighted ropes along the canal bottom to try to snag the vehicles, a tricky job because the Delta-Mendota is a prime spot for dumping abandoned and stolen cars, Letras said. The team's first effort turned up a large wagon.

The divers then used the rope to pull themselves down to the wreckage.

The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which operates and maintains the canal system, was lowering the water level to assist the divers, Assistant Executive Director Frances Mizuno said.

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.