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Two students lost multiple fingers in a tug-of-war at South El Monte High School. (Photo: ABC News)

School accident: Two high school students lost multiple fingers Monday when a rope snapped during a “Spirit Week” tug-of-war contest on the South El Monte High School campus.

•    A group of high school athletes were participating in a school rug-of-war on campus when the rope broke and severed several fingers off of two different students’ hands.

•    The students were rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery to reattach the fingers.

•    Hospital officials said the students were in stable condition following the surgery but did not comment on whether the operations were successful.

The accident occurred during lunchtime, according to a Reuters news report.

The two student athletes — later identified by classmates as Pablo Ocegueda and Edith Rodriguez — were participating in the tug-of-war to boost school spirit, according to El Monte Union High School District Superintendent Nick Salerno.

Somehow the rope broke during the contest and severed multiple fingers from both students’ hands. ABC News reported that both students lost four fingers from their right hands, and Rodriguez, who is senior class president, also lost her left thumb.

The students were rushed to  the trauma center at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where they both underwent surgery to reattach their fingers. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the hospital told Reuters that both students were in stable condition. Details on the outcome of the surgery were not available.

Salerno said the school district provided counseling for the victims’ fellow students, many of whom witnessed the horrific accident. The superintendent expressed his condolences to the victims and their families.

“I’m a dad too, and my heart goes out to these kids and their families,” Salerno told Reuters. “To me the whole thing is unbelievable. I’ve been in tug-of-wars myself, more than I can even count, and I’ve never heard anything like this.”

According to ABC News, there have been a number of similar accidents. There were two in 2008, for example, when an 8-year-old girl lost her fingers in a tug-of-war in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and a boy in Denver nearly severed his arm in a tug-of-war.

South El Monte School Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented school accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

One man was killed and other suffered a leg amputation in a work equipment accident in Fontana. (Photo: Riverside Press-Enterprise)

Work equipment accident: The Fontana plant where one worker was killed and another man’s leg was amputated by a snapped cable on Monday was already under investigation for an accident in August, when another worker lost his leg, Cal/OSHA officials said Tuesday.

•   Two men were working in a plant where high-tension cable was being spooled when one of the cables snapped and struck them.

•   One of the men was struck in the head. He died at the scene. The other man lost his leg.

•   Cal/OSHA said the plant already was being investigated for an August accident in which another worker lost his leg.

The fatal accident occurred Monday at Oldcastle Precast plant on Hemlock Avenue, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

San Bernardino County Fire Captain Tony Siciliano, who responded to the accident scene, said the company makes large concrete pillars with high-tension cables for support.

One of the cables snapped as it was being wrapped on an industrial-size spool using a tension device. The cable struck 40-year-old Fontana resident Fernando Quezada in the head, police Sgt. Robert Morris said. He died at the scene. Plant spokespersons said Quezada, whose brother was at the scene, was a married father of two children.

Another man in his early 20s, whose identity was withheld, also was struck by the snapped cable. He suffered a leg amputation as a result of the injury, Cal/OSHA spokesman Greg Siggins said.

Siggins later told the Press-Enterprise that the Oldcastle Precast plant where the accident occurred was already under investigation for an accident on August 8, when a concrete pillar rolled off a stack and struck a worker.  That man also lost his leg, Siggins said.

No stop-work order was issued following that accident. Siggins said the continuing investigation could include interviewing workers, looking at whether proper safeguards were in place, and making sure the equipment was being operated according to the manufacturer’s manual.

Fontana Work Equipment Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims and their families for more than 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Freeway Accident: A driver was critically injured in a rollover crash on Highway 86 at I-10. (Photo: KPSP News) Click image to see full-size photo.

Interstate 10 was closed Tuesday after a rollover crash that critically injured a motorist on the Highway 86 interchange in Indio.

•  A pickup truck towing an SUV and hauling dirt bikes was passing through Indio on Highway 86 en route to Arizona. The truck was in the far right lane, which becomes Interstate 10 at that point.

•   The pickup swerved to the right and rolled over. The driver’s arm was pinned between the truck and the road. Officials said the arm might be severed.

•   The freeway was closed so a helicopter could land there. The victim was airlifted to a hospital.

The freeway accident occurred at around 8 a.m., according to a report in the Desert Sun.

California Highway Patrol officer Joe Zagorski said the victim, whose name was not released, was driving a utility pickup truck eastbound on Highway 86 at the time of the crash.

The truck, which was hauling several dirt bikes and was towing a sports utility vehicle, was traveling in the far right lane that splits off from Highway 86 and becomes I-10. Zagorski said the man was en route to Arizona.

Skid marks show that the pickup truck suddenly moved to the right, but CHP officers do not know why. Officers did not say if there was any sort of roadway defect or some other obstruction that the pickup truck driver may have been trying to avoid.

The swerve apparently sent the truck out of control. It rolled over and went off of the freeway. In the process, the bikes were dumped and scattered. A car crashed into one the bikes.

The pickup truck driver’s arm was pinned between the vehicle and the road. Riverside County Fire Department officials told KPSP News there was a good chance the man would lose his arm.

“He’s alive because he was wearing a seat belt,” Zagorski said. “If he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, more than his arm would’ve come out of the vehicle.”

All eastbound lanes of the I-10 freeway were closed for a little under a half-hour so a medical helicopter could land there. The truck driver was airlifted to a hospital to be treated. Zagorski said the man’s injuries were severe but not life-threatening.

There was no one else in the pickup truck. No other injuries were reported.

The CHP is investigating the accident.

Here are more photos of the accident scene. Click on a thumbnail to see the image full-size:

Indio Freeway Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorneyClifford Blackman, have successfully represented freeway accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.