Wrong-Way Driver Fleeing CHP Kills O.C. Mother of 3 : Accident: Speeding car crosses center divider on U.S. 101 in Gaviota and strikes three vehicles. Two other people are killed and nine injured.

A scenic trip to Hearst Castle in San Simeon turned into tragedy for a Santa Ana family Friday when a car being chased by the California Highway Patrol near Santa Barbara drove head-on into traffic, killing three people and injuring nine others.

Patricia Lee Almengor, 47, a postal employee in Santa Ana and mother of three, died when the car she was in was struck by the car being chased, a CHP spokesman said. Two of Almengor’s daughters and the boyfriend ofone of them were injured, relatives said.

The car being pursued, a red BMW, struck three northbound cars on U.S. 101 after a chase that reached speeds of 90 m.p.h., said Lt. Robert Delmese of the CHP. The accident occurred in Gaviota, 20 miles north of Santa Barbara.

Also killed were Edmond Morrow Borromeo, 53, who drove a van, and the BMW’s driver.

The BMW had Arizona license plates but the identity of the driver was unknown because no identification was found on his body, according to the Santa Barbara County coroner’s office.

“He . . . caught me in the right front,” one driver who escaped with minor injuries told TV reporters. “The air bags exploded and all I saw was white powder or smoke and that was it. I lost control because the whole front end went out of my car.”

Anita Almengor, 18, of Santa Ana said she immediately drove to her mother’s home after neighbors notified her of the crash. When she got there, a news reporter handed her a copy of a story of the crash.

Joining the mother on the trip were daughters Gloria, 16, and Angel, 26, and Angel’s boyfriend. Gloria suffered head injuries and was in critical condition at a Gaviota hospital. The older sister had facial cuts and was treated, but her boyfriend, who was identified only as Rick, suffered a severe hip injury, Anita Almengor said.

“My sister Angel lives in Delaware and they just visited my mom’s house this week,” Anita Almengor said. “I only met her boyfriend, Rick, for the first time this week.”

Anita Almengor said her mother had raised her sisters alone after her father, Francisco, died 10 years ago in a car that collided with a train. Anita Almengor said that a brother died five years ago after falling off a motorcycle near the family’s Santa Ana home in the 1000 block of Arapaho Drive.

The chase began about 11 a.m., officials said. An officer began chasing the car after seeing it pass cars at up to 90 m.p.h. by using all lanes and the right shoulder, said CHP Officer George Myers.

At one point the CHP officer was held up in traffic and lost sight of the BMW. Just north of the Gaviota Tunnel, the BMW crossed a paved center divider and collided with three cars in the northbound lanes, Myers said.

Traffic was backed up for miles before the northbound lanes were reopened, authorities said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.