1 Killed in 4-Vehicle Accident

A four-vehicle accident that killed one woman Saturday evening stopped traffic on Pacific Coast Highway at Mugu Rock for more than two hours, a California Highway Patrol officer said.

Witnesses at the scene said the accident occurred just after 6 p.m. when a van traveling south spun out of control and careened into the northbound lanes.

Max Ward, 52, of Point Hueneme said he was driving north when the van spun into a Pontiac to his left.

“It just smashed into the side of him and forced him into me,” he said while seated with his wife Cheryl, 48, on the side of the road. Ward and his wife were slightly injured when their car was forced into the rocks on the side of the road.

The impact trapped the male driver of the Pontiac and killed one of his female passengers, authorities said.

“She was alive when we got to her,” a shaken Ward said. “People had stopped to help, but she died before we could get her out.”

The driver and two other passengers were critically injured, said Battalion Chief Keith Gurrola of the Ventura County Fire Department. It took rescue crews more than 45 minutes to cut the driver from the twisted metal. He was taken by helicopter to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, Gurrola said. The two passengers were taken by ambulance to Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo.

According to Gurrola, the accident also forced a fourth vehicle off the road.