Deftones bassist Chi Cheng poses in a file photo. The bass player with the California rock band is in a coma after being involved in a car accident Monday in Santa Clara, Calif., according to the Sacramento Bee. REUTERS/Ethan Miller

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The bass player with California rock band Deftones is in a coma after being involved in a car accident Monday in Santa Clara, Calif., according to the Sacramento Bee.

Chi Cheng, 38, is in a “very serious” state, the paper quoted frontman Chino Moreno as saying.

“I don’t know everything that’s going on -- I just know it’s very serious,” Moreno told the Bee.

“Chi is one of the strongest people I know, and I’m praying that his strength will get him through this,” Moreno added in a note on the Deftones’ blog. “Please say a prayer for him as well.”

Cheng has been in the studio with Deftones working on the band’s next studio album, “Eros,” which is due in spring 2009 via Warner Bros. The Deftones’ most recent live show was in mid-September in Peoria, Ariz.

Reuters/Billboard