10 Dead In 2 Separate Southern California Car Crashes

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — A pair of deadly nighttime crashes only hours apart in Southern California each killed five people, including a group of teens returning from an amusement park who were burned beyond recognition, officials said Saturday.

Shortly before 9 p.m. Friday, three vehicles collided on a two-lane rural road on the edge of Chino, a city east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County. Authorities were working to identify the dead and determine the cause Saturday afternoon, police spokeswoman Monica Gutierrez said.

A little over five hours later at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday, a car carrying six teens returning from Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Vista flew off Interstate 5 in Irvine, crashed and caught fire. Three teenage boys and two teenage girls were killed, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said.

The 16-year-old driver was the only survivor and was listed in serious condition with a head injury, Concialdi said.

The fire burned a quarter acre of brush before firefighters were able to extinguish it about 30 minutes later. Authorities were investigating the cause of the crash.

"This is a tragic reminder that we need to be extra careful driving, especially after midnight," Concialdi said. "This is a horrific accident."

Officials investigating the crash shut down three lanes of southbound Interstate 5 and a transition road for most of the day Saturday.

In Chino, the lone survivor of the three-vehicle crash — the driver of a Honda Civic —was released from the hospital, Gutierrez said. The dead included four in a Chevy truck and one in a Honda Accord.

(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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