Fourteen people have been injured, including five firefighters, when two fire engines collided in a Los Angeles suburb, sending one careening across a footpath and into a restaurant.
One of the victims was in critical condition, officials said.
The crash in Monterey Park on Wednesday left one fire engine embedded in the restaurant, with shattered glass and rubble scattered across the footpath. Chairs and tables were scattered inside.
"There was a loud boom and a lot of shaking. I thought it was an earthquake," said Wendy Wu, a waitress who was in a walk-in freezer when the fire engine ploughed through the front of the restaurant.
When she walked out from the freezer, uninjured, she saw a refrigerator pushed across the room and furniture in disarray. She said she saw several injured people bleeding and attempting to stand.
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Monterey Park Fire Chief Jim Birrell said fire engines from his city and neighbouring Alhambra were responding to a house fire shortly after 3pm local time when they slammed into each other. One vehicle then ploughed into the restaurant, and 14 people were injured, he said.
Rosa Saca, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, said nine victims were brought there, including the five firefighters. She said the critically injured person was among the hospital's patients, but is not one of the firefighters.
An investigation is under way to determine what caused the crash.
