Bride and friends en route to bridal shower die in limousine fire

Bride and friends en route to bridal shower die in limousine fire
A woman on her way to her bridal shower died along with four friends when their white stretch limousine inexplicably caught fire.
Four other women, and the driver, were able to escape the blaze which erupted as the vehicle was crossing a bridge in San Francisco.

Her family said Neriza Fojas, 31, from Fresno, California had recently married and was going to her bridal shower at a Crowne Plaza hotel, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
She was originally from the Philippines and had been planning another wedding ceremony there next month, her sister Roslyn Bersamin told the newspaper.
She worked as a nurse at a hospital in Fresno and Bersamin said: "She was a hard worker, a loving sister."


Autopsies were being conducted on the five dead women to determine the exact causes of death. All five were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver Orville Brown, 46, was the only person to escape the charred wreckage unhurt.
A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol said the limousine, a 1999 Lincoln Town Car, caught fire on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge at 10pm on Saturday.
Investigators have not determined what sparked the fire but said the limousine was engulfed in flames after smoke started coming out of the rear of the vehicle.
It was not clear if any other drivers on the bridge stopped and tried to help the women get out.

CHP officer Jeremy Lofstrom said: "Four people got out, as far as what was going on inside, I don't know," A photograph taken by a witness showed flames shooting from the back of the white stretch limo.
After the fire was extinguished it appeared the back half of the limousine had been scorched but the rest was less damaged.
The four women who escaped the fire were taken to hospital where they were being treated for smoke inhalation and burns.
The company that operated the limousine said it would do "everything possible to investigate and assist authorities in determining the cause of this fire in order to help bring forth answers."
Source: telegraph