1 Killed, 3 Others Hurt in Crash on Rain-Slicked Coast Highway : Accident: Man loses control of his truck while driving on wet metal sheets covering construction trenches.

A Santa Ana man was killed and three others were injured Friday on Coast Highway in a spectacular two-vehicle crash that occurred on rain-slicked steel sheets covering trenches.

Innocencio Juan Ochoa, 30, was killed when his southbound truck skidded out of control at 7:50 a.m. and crashed head-on into a Chevy Suburban, said Officer Bruce Lian, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

Ochoa was dead on arrival at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.

One of his passengers, Francisco Reyes, 22, was critically injured and taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange. His other passenger, his brother, Ramiro Ochoa, 20, was treated and released at Hoag Hospital. Both men are from Santa Ana.

The other driver, 37-year-old Sally Ann Stacy of Laguna Beach, suffered injuries when her vehicle burst into flames after colliding with the truck head-on, the CHP said. Stacy was flown by helicopter to UCI Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition late Friday night, according to a nursing supervisor.

The CHP said the crash occurred on metal sheets which had been slicked by early-morning rain. The sheets had been placed over trenches dug by a contractor for the Southern California Gas Co., which is replacing a gas line from the El Morro Elementary School in the Crystal Cove area to High Drive in Laguna Beach. But CHP officials said they were not certain about the cause of the accident.

The crash occurred near the seaside entrance of El Morro Beach Mobilehome Park, where angry residents charged that the construction had made the scenic roadway, which is notorious for high-speed traffic, even more treacherous.

Some residents said they had warned officials of the construction company a few days ago that accidents could occur. The construction company, MACCO Constructors Inc. of Paramount, placed “Slippery When Wet” signs along the stretch earlier this week.

“When the rain started in the morning, I was in bed drinking coffee and I thought, ‘It won’t be long before I hear sirens,’ ” said 71-year-old Emily Hansen, who owns a trailer located close to where the accident occurred. “Then five minutes later came the crash.”

One of the highway’s two southbound lanes has been under construction for two weeks.

Mike Roseen, a gas company official who is in charge of the project, said that metal sheets are routinely used to cover the construction site whenever work is not in progress. He said the work will continue for another two months.

But Hansen and other residents said the sheets are not level with the roadway or with each other and cars tend to bounce out of control.

The rectangular sheets or plates are slippery even when they’re dry, some residents said.

Hansen and other park residents said the lane should remain closed during the rains, and some said they made that suggestion to a state Department of Transportation official, who said he would pass it on to MACCO.

Vince Dinkler, a senior vice president with MACCO, said, “We feel the lane should be closed and understand it will be.”

Caltrans officials confirmed Friday night that the lane would be closed at least through the weekend.

Meanwhile, Hansen said she was so concerned about the possibility of another accident that could send a car plunging into her trailer that she had decided to sleep Friday night on the couch in her living room, because her bedroom is close to the highway.

Shortly after Friday’s accident, Hansen said, she saw a man in a four-wheel drive vehicle trying to turn into the mobile home park. “He put on his brakes and hit the metal and skidded for 10 or 15 feet,” she said.

The accident scene drew crowds of onlookers early Friday.

Some motorists used extinguishers to put out a fire that had ignited in Stacy’s vehicle.

Others helped to rescue the Ochoas and Reyes, who were piled on top of each other after the truck flipped on its side, the CHP said.

Officers recovered a cat from Stacy’s vehicle and turned it over to the Laguna Beach animal control division.

Times photographer Mark Boster contributed to this story.