Six dead in California crash, including three kids, a pregnant mom

Six people are dead after a multicar crash in Central California, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child and three school-age siblings, authorities said.

The crash occurred at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Lodi, about 15 miles north of Stockton. Five cars collided near Ham Lane and Vine Street. Five people died Tuesday evening; the sixth died overnight. At least a dozen other victims, including children, were treated either at the scene or area hospitals.

Witnesses said that a sport utility vehicle was speeding at nearly 90 mph just before the crash.

The investigation of the crash was continuing.

The man driving the SUV was talking on his cellphone, witnesses told the Lodi News-Sentinel.

The newspaper described a horrific crash scene: “Three vehicles were crushed together in a violent knot. One white pickup truck was bent so that it formed a ‘V’ around the hood of another involved truck.”

Tarps covered bodies that had been thrown from cars, the newspaper reported.

Lodi Unified School District officials told the paper that they were sending counselors to the middle school and elementary school that two of the victims attended.

Three children who died in the crash -- ages 12, 7 and 5 -- were siblings, the Stockton Record reported. Their 9-year-old brother survived.

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