8 Die in Deadliest Collision in O.C. History; 11 Injured : Tragedy: All the dead were believed among passengers of a church van headed for services. It was hit broadside by a truck that apparently ran a red light.

SANTA ANA — In the most deadly traffic accident in Orange County history, eight people were killed and at least 11 others injured Sunday when three vehicles collided near downtown, including a van carrying 15 passengers to evening church services.

Authorities said those killed in the 6 p.m. crash included three adults, two teen-agers, two children and a fetus.

One of the victims, Ruth Mendez, 30, was eight months pregnant. Two of her children, Carlos, 5, and Daniel, 2, were with her in the van and both died. Her niece, Erica Mendez, 16, also was killed.

Mendez came to Garden Grove two years ago, bringing her children with her Guatemala. She went to church with the children every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, said her niece, Lydia Aguilar.

“I’ve been in the department for 22 years and I can’t recall an accident scene like this,” said Lt. Bob Helton of the Santa Ana Police Department.

Firefighters said the victims were scattered throughout the intersection of Civic Center Drive and Flower Street, along with Bibles and other religious articles strewn from the van.

All of the dead were believed to have been passengers in the van.

Police said the van was eastbound on Civic Center Drive, and the two other vehicles, a Chevrolet pickup truck and a BMW, were southbound on Flower. Helton said that one or both of the southbound vehicles apparently ran a red light at the intersection, colliding with the van.

One witness, who identified himself only as David, 24, said he was traveling west on Civic Center when he saw a Chevrolet pickup barrel through a red light at high speed, squarely striking the van on the driver’s side. When the pickup came to rest, the witness said, the driver left the truck.

“The truck came from nowhere and, boom,” he said, smacking his fist into an open palm. “I saw the bodies flying out like when a pilot ejects from a jet fighter,” he said.

When the Ford Econoline van was struck and sent spinning into the intersection, all its occupants were ejected onto the pavement, most from the rear cargo doors, which flipped open during the crash. The van was extensively damaged on the length of the driver’s side.

In the rear of the van, one bench was not properly bolted to the floor, police said. A second, shorter bench had been resting on wood blocks that were also not secured to the van floor. Police said some of the 13 to 15 occupants of the van, who were on their way to 6 p.m. services at the Nonsectarian Church of God in Santa Ana, may have been seated on the floor of the van at the time of the crash.

Helton said the driver of the pickup apparently fled the scene of the accident and was being sought by authorities. The license plate number of the pickup was listed as California 2K96180, police said. Police said the driver is believed to be a Santa Ana resident. They also suspect that he suffered facial injuries since the truck’s windshield was shattered.

Police said the BMW driver and his son riding with him were being treated for minor injuries.

Five of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene while the three others died at local hospitals.

“Paramedics said it looked like a morgue out there,” said Anne Ford, a clinical coordinator at UCI Medical Center in Orange, describing the bloody accident scene. “Instead of waiting for ambulances, people were piling the injured into their individual cars to take to the hospital.”

Shortly after the crash, Ford said, UCI had received two critically injured boys, ages 2 and 10, who were suffering from head and body wounds.

“We have no idea who these children are,” Ford said. “We don’t know if their parents are dead or alive. Their injuries are really, really, really critical.”

By late Sunday night, the injured were being treated in hospitals from Orange to Mission Viejo.

Mistala Lopez, 50, and Glenda Aguirre, 22, were admitted to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Both were listed in guarded condition.

Dr. Kenneth Kushner, an emergency room physician at the medical center, said that throughout the evening Lopez kept calling out for her daughter.

“My daughter was with me! My daughter was with me!” Lopez called, according to Kushner.

Among the other injured, four were identified at Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana as Dolores Martinez, 46, suffering from cuts; Alexander Noel Martinez, 1, cuts and bruises; Catarina Sandoval, 4, bruised face and cuts; and Saul Sandoval, 32, injured hip and lower back.

At Doctors Hospital of Santa Ana, Sandra Guzman, 30, and Isabel Narohona, 53, were in stable condition.

Helton said it was likely that the death toll would increase based on the number of critically injured transported to local hospitals.

Firefighters who were among the first to arrive described the accident scene near Eddie West Field/Santa Ana Stadium as “bedlam.”

Within minutes, Santa Ana Fire Inspector Larry Garcia said, medical evacuation helicopters were whirling to landings in the intersection and at the stadium to provide aid and hospital evacuations for the most critically injured. So bloody was the accident scene that Garcia said some of his most seasoned firefighters were repulsed.

Police called a staff psychologist to the scene to counsel officers who were shaken by the bloody scene.

Phillip Villegas, 20, said he was one of the first to arrive on the scene as he was returning to his home about two miles away.

“I just saw about three or four cars,” Villegas said. “It didn’t look like a big accident. But I saw a whole lot of people just lying in the street bleeding,” he said. “People were stopping by to help them and using whatever they could find to stop the bleeding. Some were using clothes. Others were just using rags, holding them up to the wounds.”

As police attempted to direct rescue and investigation activities, a distraught woman identified as Gisela Rivera approached Helton holding a young child and asked about relatives.

The woman said her brother, Saul Salomon, 15, and sister, Sara Salomon, 14, had been traveling in the van to church.

Times staff writers Kevin Johnson, Kristina Lindgren, Gebe Martinez, Jodi Wilgoren, Eric Young and Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this story.