FOUR DEAD IN FREEWAY CRASHES FIERCE SANDSTORMS LEAD TO COLLISIONS.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO and JERRY BERRIOS

Staff Writers

LANCASTER -- Blinding sandstorms in the High Desert were blamed Tuesday for the deaths of four people during a series of highway pileups.

Two elderly men died and 16 people were hospitalized in three collisions north of Lancaster that involved a total of four big rigs and eight other vehicles, said Officer Henry Ross of the California Highway Patrol.

Two of the injured were in critical condition, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Sam Padilla.

A family of 11 visiting from Fortaleza, Brazil, and on their way to Las Vegas were in a van that crashed. Nine of them were injured with broken arms, legs and lacerations and taken to Antelope Valley Hospital, a family member said.

"All my family was in this van, all 11," said a sobbing 46-year-old Fernando Amaral Pontes.

Markan Rios, a passenger in the van, was visibly shaken as he waited next to the crumbled van for someone to take him and Pontes to the hospital.

"I couldn't see anything; it was too much and too quick," Rios said. "I was coming in and I saw the sand and we slowed down but the truck in front of us had stalled and we couldn't stop."

Anthony Valdespino, who drives through the area daily, told KCAL (Channel 9) that "everybody just came to an abrupt stop. There were people that were speeding and unfortunately I don't know if they made it through or not."

Valdespino recalled the sound of brakes screeching all around him.

"I've never seen dust like that," he said. "I've lived out here most of my life and I've never seen dust that thick like that before."

Winds were gusting up to 58 mph about 1:30 p.m., triggering the three collisions on the Antelope Valley Freeway near Avenue B, CHP and fire officials said.

The National Weather Service issued a dust storm warning through the evening and a wind advisory through early this morning.

"I came up and saw a wall of brown dust. It was like a brownout of dust," Canadian trucker Jim LeBlanc said. "I was down to 40 miles per hour and slowing down and 20 feet into the dust, I saw all these cars stopped across the highway. I didn't have time to go into the ditch and I smacked into two cars."

LeBlanc said once he stopped he was hit by another driver.

The southbound lanes were opened at about 3:30 p.m., while the northbound side remained shut for another 30 minutes as the California Highway Patrol worked to clear the road of the wrecked vehicles.

As the dust lifted, debris was visibly scattered across the freeway.

About 20 miles to the north, a Dodge truck rear-ended a tractor- trailer at 11:45 a.m. on State Route 58, east of the Antelope Valley Freeway, authorities said. The driver of the truck died and a passenger was hospitalized. The driver of the tractor-trailer was uninjured.

Roughly 10 minutes later, one person died in another crash in the same area. No details were available.

"There were high winds and zero visibility at the time," said Officer Ed Smith of the CHP Mojave office.

The wind also knocked over two big rigs in the area. At 11:19 a.m., a truck blew over on northbound Antelope Valley Freeway, south of State Route 58. The driver suffered major injuries and was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital.

Another tractor-trailer blew over at about 12:40 p.m. in front of the Price Saver's truck stop in Mojave on Business 58 and O Street. The driver was not injured.

Ross advised motorists to slow down and turn on headlights when there's poor visibility. Drivers, he added, should stop on the side of the road -- not in lanes -- as necessary in windstorms.

Like the rest of California, the Antelope Valley has been bone-dry this year, receiving less than two inches of rain. The dryness creates conditions in which dirt and sand are not packed down in the ground and are more likely to swirl in the face of strong winds.

Associated Press contributed to this story.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A series of deadly sandstorms whipped across the Antelope Valley Freeway, killing four people on Tuesday.

(2) A California Highway Patrol officer examines a multi-vehicle crash caused by blinding sandstorms on the Antelope Valley Freeway at Avenue B on Tuesday.

Jeff Goldwater/Special to the Daily News