GUSTINE — A suspected DUI crash along the Delta‑Mendota Canal just outside of Gustine sent two women to the hospital and left a third missing early Wednesday after a dune‑buggy style vehicle plunged into the water, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The Merced Communications Center received the call at about 12:06 a.m. Jan. 28 reporting that the off‑road vehicle had entered the canal near Gravel Pit Road, south of State Route 140. CHP officers from the Los Banos Area Office responded and found the vehicle submerged and learned that one female passenger had not been located.
Investigators said the driver, Elixandro Naranjo Miranda, 21, had been operating the dune buggy along the canal bank west of the waterway with three female passengers. CHP said Miranda drove into the canal at an estimated 10 mph, citing darkness and heavy dust that limited visibility…