2 French teens killed in California van crash

Two French teenagers were killed and five other French nationals were injured when the driver of their van fell asleep, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and roll over, the California Highway Patrol said Sunday.

The accident happened Saturday morning on State Route 190 in California's Death Valley National Park, about 100 miles west of Las Vegas, according to patrol Capt. Tim Lepper.

The French consul in Los Angeles, David Martinon, said the group was traveling to the park from Las Vegas.

The driver of the rented passenger van, 31-year-old Nassera Soudani of Levallois Perret, France, will likely be charged with vehicular manslaughter, Lepper said.

"She admitted to being tired and falling asleep," he said. "It's a very desolate area out there. You drive for miles and miles before you see anything other than landscape."

Lepper did not know whether Soudani had retained an attorney, and attempts to reach her by phone at the hospital late Sunday night were unsuccessful.

The two girls killed in the crash were 17-year-old Leah Baldaccini and 16-year-old Orane Pozzo Di Borgo, both from the Marseille, France, area, the patrol said. Four other teenagers were injured, one of them critically, the patrol said.

Soudani, who suffered a broken jaw, fell asleep while driving in the desert, woke up when the vehicle ran off the road, then overcorrected, the CHP said.

Investigators said Soudani was being very cooperative.

"She's extremely remorseful and absolutely heartbroken about what happened," Lepper said.

At least three passengers were ejected when the van rolled. Only one of the passengers was wearing a seat belt.

One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other passengers were taken to University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, authorities said.

The victims were on a trip organized by a group based south of Paris called Cousins d'Amerique, France's Foreign Ministry said.

Of those who were injured in the crash, the most seriously hurt was a 15-year-old boy from Marseilles who "should make it," Martinon said. The driver also was expected to recover, and the other three injured - all 17-year-old girls - had injuries ranging from a punctured lung to cuts and scrapes and should leave the hospital soon, Lepper said.

The van was traveling in a convoy of three vehicles carrying about 20 people in total. The van that crashed was the middle vehicle in the convoy, authorities said.

The others in the group were sent to a Las Vegas hotel Sunday while French officials discussed sending them back to France.

"They are very shocked," Martinon said.

(This version corrects spelling of Perret.)