5 People Killed as 2 Vehicles Collide in California

Four adults and one child were killed Thursday night when two vehicles collided near a freeway off ramp, authorities said.

The crash occurred about 7 p.m. when a silver Toyota Yaris with four people veered off a ramp from eastbound Interstate 10 and struck a red Toyota sedan, also carrying four people, California Highway Patrol Officer Christina Wood told the Los Angeles Times.

All four of the people in the sedan — a 30-year-old man, a 29-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman and and another man — died on the scene, Wood told the Times. The highway patrol gave no further information on them.

Witness Orlando Erives told KCBS TV that he saw the silver car pull out of the gas station when the red vehicle plowed into it.

"I saw the firefighters trying to cut the car so that they could get the people out. One was ejected from the car. I was able to see them on the floor. After that I just saw them putting tarps on each of the bodies," Erives said.

Wood tells the Times that the Yaris was driven by a 51-year-old woman and carried a girl, 12, and two boys, ages 16 and 6. They were all from Van Nuys, but it was unknown whether they were related. The four were taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where the 6-year-old boy died.

The Highway Patrol says the cause of the crash is unknown.