The Associated Press
LANCASTER, Calif. — A car and a pickup truck collided on a rural desert road Saturday night in northern Los Angeles County, killing four young people and leaving three others critically injured.
Firefighters arrived at the scene in Lancaster to find both the sedan and the pickup in a ditch and four people already dead, county fire spokesman Tony Akins told KNBC-TV. Three survivors were taken to a hospital in critical condition.
One of the vehicles ran a stop sign and broadsided the other, sending both into the ditch, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Tom Lackey said.
“It was definitely a very powerful impact that unfortunately stole the life of four people,” Sgt. Tom Lackey told KNBC. Lackey said at least two of the dead were not wearing seatbelts.
Video from the scene showed a badly smashed green truck and red pickup, and a road so covered in debris it was difficult for tow trucks and rescue vehicles to get past.
The victims’ names and ages were not immediately released.
The dead appeared to be in their teens or early 20s, Akins said.
Lancaster is a Mojave Desert city about 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.