Investigation into crash continues; victims ID’d

Jace Radke

Friday, March 10, 2000 | 11:11 a.m.

The driver of the van that crashed Wednesday in Jean killing eight passengers and injuring five told investigators the last thing he remembered was hearing people screaming as the van rolled over into a steep median.

The investigation into what caused the green Dodge van to veer from the northbound lanes of Interstate 15 about 1 p.m. Wednesday and roll down a steep embankment into the center median continues, but an interview with driver Yuri Shkolnikov has given authorities a good idea of what happened, Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Michael Cooke said.

"It looks like the official cause may be falling asleep at the wheel," Cooke said. "We interviewed the driver for about 15 minutes Thursday and he told us he only got approximately six and a half to seven hours of sleep the night before."

Police learned in the interview that the group of 13 travelers heading from California to Las Vegas stopped for gas and food at either Barstow or Baker, Calif., before continuing on their trip that would end tragically 25 miles south of their destination.

"He told us he was driving and the next thing he knew he heard everyone in the van yelling and screaming," Cooke said.

Shkolnikov, one of five in the van who remain at University Medical Center in fair condition, said he couldn't talk about the accident when reached in his hospital room Thursday night.

Six of the eight people who died in the crash were identified by the Clark County coroner's office on Thursday.

Leya Romanovsky, 53, of Chatsworth, Calif. and Sonya Elkin, 62, of Kingston, Pa., Alla Rabovsky, 41, of Albany, N.Y., and Mariya Vilnar, 52, of Brookline, Mass., were among the five women killed in the crash. The coroner's office is still working to notify the fifth woman's family and has not yet released her name.

Two of the three men found dead at the scene have been identified as Vitaly Rabinovich, 60, also of Brookline, and Marat Kutikov, 67, of Albany, N.Y.

Along with Shkolnikov, 63, four other passengers remain in fair condition at UMC. They are, Mikhail Elkin, 60, Marat Romanovsky, 60, and two female passengers, Ana Kupikov, 63, and Svetlana Shkolnikov, 58.

Several passerbys stopped to help at the accident that happened on a stretch of I-15 that runs between the Nevada Landing and Gold Strike hotel-casinos.

How long the group planned to stay in Las Vegas, and why they were all riding together remains unknown, Cooke said.