Four people were killed when the driver of a Dodge Challenger lost control of the car near Los Angeles (Pictures: ABC7)
Four people, including three marines, were killed after a fiery car crash on a California highway, authorities said.
Officers from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) responded to the scene near the city of Downey, California around 2.35am on Saturday morning after a car carrying four people slammed into a wall and exploded.
The car, a 2018 Dodge Challenger, was traveling southbound on Interstate-5 at an ‘unknown high rate of speed,’ the CHP said.
Investigators believe the driver of Challenger lost control of the vehicle, causing him to collide with a guard rail, then a wall situated beneath a pedestrian bridge.
Three of the occupants were confirmed to be active duty marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County (Picture: AP)
The crash caused the Challenger to ‘split in two, subsequently ejecting the two rear passengers onto the right shoulder,’ the CHP said.
The two victims ejected from the car were already dead by the time first responders arrived at the scene.
Meanwhile, the other two occupants of the car were trapped inside when the vehicle exploded.
‘The driver and right front passenger remained inside the front portion of the vehicle which became fully engulged in flames against the sound barrier wall,’ the CHP said.
The fires from the explosion also ignited nearby vegetation on the roadside.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office determined the victims died from ‘blunt traumatic injuries’ sustained during the crash.
Three of the victims in the car were identified as Rodrigo Zermeno Gomez, 21, Daniel Nichols, 27, and Joshua Leandra Moore Jr, 27.
The fourth victim’s identity has not been released as officials wait to notify their next-of-kin.
The California Transportation Department closed off the highway going south immediately after the fiery crash, but it was fully reopened by 4.25am.
Three of the victims were active duty United States Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corp said. It was not immediately clear which victims were members of the service.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to the military base in San Diego County, California for more information about the victims.
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The crash caused the car to ‘split in two, subsequently ejecting the two rear passengers onto the right shoulder,’ the CHP said.