ENCINO : Survivor of Fatal Crash Still Missing

Puzzled authorities were searching Monday for a man who was pulled from the burning wreckage of a fatal traffic accident and then bolted across the westbound lanes of the Ventura Freeway, his clothes ablaze.

California Highway Patrol officers searched the area around Louise Avenue in Encino for several hours after the Sunday night accident and checked local hospitals for the man, but his identity and why he fled seconds after the crash that killed his three companions remained a mystery.

“We’re still looking for him,” CHP Officer Jayne Suits said. “He just took off.”

Suits said the incident began about 8 p.m. when an eastbound truck carrying the man and three others fishtailed during a lane change, then rolled over on its left side. The truck skidded across the eastbound lanes of the freeway in a cascade of sparks and erupted in flames fueled by gasoline leaking from an uncapped tank.

Three of the men in the truck, none of whom had been identified Monday, died in the flames, but the fourth was pulled from the cab by a motorist.

Suits said the man’s clothes were on fire, but he hopped the center divider and dodged westbound traffic, disappearing down an embankment on the north side of the freeway.