Gary Kazanjian for the Times
Roberta Garcia stood at the edge of the Delta-Mendota Canal at midday Wednesday, inconsolable.
The churning waterway had claimed the lives of two of her daughters. Eulalia Garcia, 39, was pulled from the canal on Tuesday night. The body of Adriana Garcia, 18, had been spotted miles away by a sharp-eyed California Highway Patrol officer.
Moments after the teenager's limp form was dragged from the swift current, Garcia, 57, sobbed and sobbed. "I want to see her," Garcia cried, as family members cradled her in their arms. "I want to see her."
Farmworkers' fatal crash: In Thursday's California section, a photo caption accompanying an article about farmworkers killed in a car crash near Modesto misspelled Isaias Garcia's first name as Isais. Additionally, the caption identified him as the brother of Ivonne Garcia. He is her uncle.
The two sisters had been traveling in a red Ford Explorer with four other farmworkers Tuesday. They were returning home to Lodi after working in a peach orchard in Stanislaus County, when their car collided with a septic pumper truck.
The vehicles plunged into the canal shortly before 12:30 p.m., killing all occupants. Five bodies were recovered Tuesday, including the truck driver, but two of the Explorer's passengers remained missing.
The Garcia family identified Eulalia's body on the banks of the canal near Westley, Calif., that night. Roberta Garcia's remaining six children and their relatives came from as near as Lodi and as far as Los Angeles. .
They stayed at the remote accident site, surrounded by orchards and field crops, until 1:30 a.m., returning after a few hours' sleep to drive up and down the irrigation canal searching for Adriana, the youngest of eight siblings.
But it wasn't until 11:15 a.m. that CHP Officer Russ Caplan spotted the young woman's body during his regular patrol. She was nearly 13 miles south of the collision site, where a wooden bridge crossed the waterway.
According to the preliminary investigation, Eulalia was driving when she apparently ran a stop sign and was hit by the United Site Services truck. The two vehicles careened into the aqueduct.
The truck was pulled from the canal about 6 p.m. Tuesday, with the body of Luis Llamas Perez, 45, belted into the driver's seat. The Merced father of three had worked for the company since 2000, said United Site Services spokeswoman Paige Dawson.
He was a "very dedicated employee" with a clean driving record, Dawson said. His truck had recently been serviced and had passed a state and company inspection on May 31.
"There were members from United Site Services on site all through the afternoon and working with the [driver's] family," Dawson said. "He was real close with his team members and colleagues."
