Survivors of the The San Francisco Bay Area limo fire that killed five women Saturday say that the limo driver ignored their initial pleas for help and could have done more to save the other women during the fire.

Neila Arellano was one of the three women who survived and said in an interview with KGO-TV that she and the other women had hit the partition separating the rear of the lime from the driver's area multiple times, warning the driver, Oliver Brown, about smoke coming front he back of the limo.

Brown said he mistook "smoke" for a request to smoke a cigarette, and he told her the company's policy prohibits that.

But 30 seconds later, Brown said the woman knocked again.

I just saw the anguish, grief on her face," Brown told the L.A. Times. "I started smelling smoke and started seeing smoke."

Arellano weeped as she told KGO-TV that Brown disregarded her pleas for help when the limo first started filling with smoke.

"He doesn't want to listen," cried Arellano, who said she was telling him, "There is already a fire. Stop the car, stop the car."

The Fire engulfed the 1999 Lincoln Town Car in about three minutes, claiming the lives of five women, all in their 30s and 40s.

Arellano and eight other women were on their way to a celebratory bridal party at a hotel in Foster City, celebrating the recent marriage of Neriza Fojas, who perished in the fire.

The limo was headed across the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge when it burst into flames.

Arellano and three other women were able to squeeze through the 3 by 1 1/2-foot opening, but the five others didn't make it. Their bodies were later found huddled and pressed up against the partition, attempting to get away from the fire, according to San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.

Brown told KGO that he believes it was an electrical fee that could have "been smoldering for days," since there was no loud explosion.

Authorities are still searching for the cause of the fire and why five of the victims were unable to escape.

The Associated Press reported that three survivors hospitalized were identified as Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose; Mary Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; and Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro. Arellano, 36, of Oakland, was treated and released.

Fojas and Michelle Estrera were two of the women killed and were nurses at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. The husband of a third victim, Jenni Balon, 39, identified her to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The other two women have not been identified.

Fojas, 31, was planning a second wedding ceremony in June in the Philippines

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

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