3 Killed, 2 Hurt in Crash on Ortega Hwy.

Three young men riding in the back of a pickup truck were killed and two others in the vehicle were injured Wednesday night when it went out of control on Ortega Highway, a winding, deadly, 25-mile stretch of road that connects this city to Lake Elsinore.

The driver of the truck, the only one of the six men in the vehicle to escape uninjured, was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter and taken to Orange County Jail .

“There were a number of open (alcohol) containers found in and around the vehicle,” said California Highway Patrol spokesman Gary Alfonzo.

The truck went out of control about 7:30 p.m. as it headed west on Ortega Highway, about 6 miles east of Interstate 5.

“Right now we don’t know why,” Alfonzo said.

The four passengers in the back of the pickup were ejected as it flipped several times and bounced off the mountain walls that hug both sides of the two-lane highway. The truck landed upright in the center divider, badly mangled, about 175 feet from where it first left the road.

The names and ages of the six men were withheld. Alfonzo described them all as being in their 20s.

Two of the passengers were killed instantly, and a third was pronounced dead on arrival at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

The fourth passenger riding in the back of the truck was listed in critical condition at the hospital. The passenger who was riding in the cab also was taken to the hospital with neck and head injuries.

More than 30 people have been killed along Ortega Highway in the past 10 years. A 1986 CHP study found that the accident rate for Ortega Highway was 146% higher than the statewide average for similar highways.

Most of the accidents occur on the Orange County side of the highway.