A horrific accident on a rural California highway left nine people, including seven children, dead, officials said.
The head-on collision happened around 8 pm on New Year’s Day on Highway 33, about 90 minutes north of Bakersfield, when the driver of a 2013 Dodge apparently pulled off the road, Officer Rory Marks told the Los Angeles Times.
The driver, a 28-year-old man, then corrected – and ended up crashing into a Ford carrying seven children and an adult, officials said.
The impact ignited the Ford. All the victims were pronounced dead at the scene and had not yet been identified on Saturday.
“We have no witnesses to that, except the people who discovered it,” Marks told the newspaper. “We are looking for help if anyone knows anything.”
The cause of the collision is under investigation.