1 dead, 3 hurt as car plunges into marsh near JFK

A car veered off a road near John F. Kennedy International Airport and plunged into water, early Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, killing one woman and injuring three other riders. / WCBS

NEW YORK One woman is dead and three other people were injured after the car they were riding in plunged into a marshy area near Jamaica Bay in Queens early Sunday morning.

The woman was brought to the hospital in very critical condition, reports CBS Station WCBS. She was later pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, police said.

The car was traveling on a narrow, curvy road off of Rockaway Blvd., near a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport, when it went off the road and into a few feet of water around 4:30 a.m.

The roadway - Brookville Boulevard - is commonly known as Snake Road for its dangerous curves, reports WCBS correspondent Amy Dardashtian, who also spotted black ice on the roadway near the crash scene.

In all, six people were riding in the Ford Focus at the time of the accident.

After extricating the car, more than a dozen divers searched the freezing cold waters to look for two who were missing, but police called off the search after they realized the two had fled the scene following the crash.

The driver is being questioned by police.

Six firefighters were treated for hypothermia following the search, WINS reported.