2 Die, Suspected Drunk Driver Injured in Crash : Accident: The pre-dawn wreck at Moulton Parkway and El Toro Road backs up rush-hour traffic for miles.

A suspected drunk driver slammed into an electrical pole near the intersection of Moulton Parkway and El Toro Road early Friday, killing the two passengers in his car and backing up rush-hour traffic for miles at one of the county’s busiest intersections.

Coroner’s officials identified the dead as Alvaro Gomez, 20, and Alfredo Jimenez, 22, both of San Juan Capistrano.

The driver, Jorge Espinoza, 24, of Laguna Hills, was listed in serious condition at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. California Highway Patrol officials ordered Espinoza detained in his hospital room on suspicion of felony drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

CHP Officer Diana Angelici said the accident occurred shortly after 4:10 a.m. as Espinoza drove his 1981 Datsun 200SX about 70 m.p.h. south on Moulton Parkway.

Espinoza lost control of the vehicle as he crossed El Toro Road, causing the car to skid about 100 feet in the fast lane before striking the center divider, knocking over a concrete pole.

“I heard a loud grating noise and then a hollow thud,” said Dan Gonse, a mechanic who works at a nearby bus garage inside the Leisure World retirement community. “When I ran down to check, I saw this car on its side with a pole wrapped around it. The car was totally unrecognizable. Someone in the back seat had apparently been crushed by the pole. It was appalling, so I turned back and left.”

Power lines dangling from the pole hampered efforts to extricate the victims, Angelici said.

The CHP officer said that the two passengers, who were not wearing seat belts, died at the scene.

Espinoza, who was wearing a seat belt, was rushed to the hospital, where a spokeswoman said he suffered serious head and other internal injuries in the crash.

Santiago Espinoza, Jorge’s cousin and roommate, said he last saw the three men leaving Espinoza’s Caminito Grande condominium late Thursday night.

“All we know is that he left last night and the next thing we knew we had a phone call saying Jorge was hurt,” Santiago Espinoza said. “It is very sad.”

Santiago Espinoza said he did not know the two deceased men, but assumed they they worked with his cousin at a fast-food restaurant in Laguna Hills.

Jorge Espinoza, who has been in the United States for four years, is married and the father of two children. His family lives in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and had not yet been notified of the accident, Santiago Espinoza said.

The accident forced the closure of Moulton Parkway in both directions for almost six hours as crews from Southern California Edison worked to replace the pole, Angelici said.

Early-morning traffic on Moulton Parkway, which is an alternative route to Interstate 5 for many commuters heading north, was backed up for miles in both directions. The most gridlocked area was the intersection at El Toro Road and Moulton Parkway, described by transportation authorities as one of the most congested intersections in the county.

Leisure World officials said the traffic jam forced them to reroute 11 buses that shuttle seniors around the retirement community.

“The (El Toro-Moulton) intersection is already bad as it is,” said George Scheibel, a supervisor at Leisure World’s transportation office. “But can you imagine it with one of the main roadways closed? It was a nightmare.”