Five teens from Irvine are dead after their car struck a tree in Newport Beach.
The victims—three females and two males—have not yet been identified, the Orange County Sheriff's Department told City News Service.
The accident occurred on Jamboree Road just north of Island Lagoon around 5:20 p.m. Monday, according to Newport Beach Police Department spokeswoman Kathy Lowe. The roadway was closed in both directions afterward and was reopened early this morning.
"The vehicle was traveling southbound on Jamboree when it left the roadway and struck a tree,'' Lowe told CNS. "Immediately upon impact the vehicle split and half caught fire.'
Lowe said four people in the car were completely ejected and a fifth was partially ejected. Four victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The fifth person was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo but also died.
Investigators told Juan Fernandez of KCAL9 that, looking at the wreckage, they originally thought they were dealing with two different cars. The impact of the crash was so violent that the debris field stretched for almost a quarter mile.
Officials arrived on the scene to find half of the car, an Infiniti, engulfed in flames. Rescue crews had their hands full extinguishing the fire and performing triage on all the patients.
Investigators said speed may have been a factor in the crash.
UPDATE, 4 P.M.: Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino identified the victims as Abdurlrahman M. Alyahyan, 17, a University High School senior who was the driver; Nozad Al Hamawendi, 16, a student at Irvine High School; Cecilia Zamora, 17, a student at Irvine High School; and sisters Robin Cabrera, 17, and Aurora Cabrera, 16, both of Irvine High School.
