A woman who survived a weekend limo fire, which killed a bride and four of her friends, said in an interview that the driver didn't listen to them when they told him they saw smoke in the vehicle and did nothing to help get the passengers out safely.
"When he get out from that car, he just opened the door, that's all he did," Nelia Arellano, 36, said to ABC News affiliate KGO-TV. "I even ask the driver, 'Open the door, open the door.' He didn't do anything."
Orville Brown, 46, was driving a 1999 Lincoln Town limo on May 4 when it burst into flames on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge near San Francisco, C.A.
Arellano, 36, was one of only four who survived the incident and said she tapped on the partition to tell Brown that they smelt and saw smoke in the back of the limo. The eight women were out celebrating Neriza Fojas', who died in the fire, wedding and were only miles away from their hotel.
"I said, 'There's already a fire. Stop the car. Stop the car,'" Arellano, said to KGO. "I even ask him, 'Help me, help me,' because I bring out my head from that compartment and say, 'Help me,' so I could squeeze myself over there and slide myself."
Brown said he thought the women were hitting the partition because they wanted to know if they were allowed to smoke in the vehicle according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The driver believes he did everything he could have done to help his passengers.
"I don't know what we could have done differently to save them," Brown said in an interview.
When Brown pulled the car over, he helped pull Arellano and the other survivors through the limo's 3 foot by 1 ½-foot partition and out the front door according to a report by the Associated Press.
Three people, including an off-duty C.A. Highway Patrol sergeant tried assisting the women as well.
"Two cars helped us," Arellano recalled. "I said, 'I need to go back and save them,' but the man said, 'No, you cannot go back anymore.'"
Brown said one of the survivors opened the door and went back in the limo, which could have caused the fire to grow even more by providing it oxygen.
"When they opened the door, that let the fire get oxygen, that oxygenated the fire, it allowed oxygen to get to the fire and that fire spread so fast," Brown told KGO, noting there was no explosion or boom along with the fire.
Early reports have indicated that the fire was an electrical issue, but authorities have determined it is "too soon" to pinpoint the official cause.
The victims' bodies were discovered "huddled" together near the partition, which seems to indicate that they were trying to escape the fire, according to San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.
The California Highway Patrol is expected to officially release the names of all five victims involved in the limousine fire this week. The names were not released as of press time.
Related Articles:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk Talks With Google About Driverless Electric Cars (VIDEO)
GM Wins Approval to Build $1.3 Billion Cadillac Plant in China
BMW Recalls 220,000 Vehicles Globally for Faulty Passenger Airbags
Terrafugia Reveals New Flying Car, Four-Seat Hybrid with Vertical Takeoff (PHOTOS / VIDEO)
Woman Eaten by Vultures in 45 Minutes After Falling 900 Feet Off a Cliff in France
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
