SANTA CLARITA – Newhall, California
Three of five people killed in a chain-reaction crash on the southbound 5 Freeway near the 14 freeway, early Monday were local children, authorities said.
Cynthia J. Hernandez, 9, Edgar A. Hernandez, 8, and Xochitl M. Hernandez, 5, all of Whittier, were killed after the car they were riding in collided with an overturned pickup truck at 12:14 a.m. on the southbound 5 just before the Balboa Boulevard exit, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Lutz.
Their cousin, Luis Villegas, 12, of Oakland was also killed.
The back of the Nissan the children were riding in caved in when the car was then rear ended by a Chevrolet Suburban, Lutz said. No one in the SUV was seriously injured.
The children’s mother, who is in her 30s, survived and was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Another man in his 20s was also in the car and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, Lutz said.
John Blackburn, 54, of Frazier Park, who was the driver of the pickup truck that triggered the accident when it hit the center divider, spun out of control and overturned, was killed.
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Twelve people were transported to area hospitals, four of them with major injuries, after an accident Saturday night on Highway 126 near Santa Paula.