Woman Dies in Burning Car; Officers Rescue Three Men

Long Beach Harbor Patrol officers pulled three men from a burning traffic wreck near the U.S. Naval Shipyard early Sunday, but they could not save a woman who burned to death as the rescuers suffered smoke inhalation and burns, authorities said.

The Harbor Patrol officers were treated at a hospital and released. Two of the men they rescued from the Ford Mustang remained in critical condition Sunday, and another was in serious condition. The driver of a second car was also in critical condition, authorities said.

That car, a Nissan Pulsar, had sped westbound on Ocean Boulevard near a shipyard gate about 12:30 a.m., jumped the center median and struck the eastbound Mustang, said Long Beach Fire Capt. James Watson.

Both cars hurtled off the road and about 20 feet down an embankment, the Mustang bursting into flames, Watson said. An unidentified witness flagged down passing Harbor Patrol Officer Robert Mouser, who radioed for help and pulled one man from the wreckage, authorities said.

Soon all four Harbor Patrol officers on duty were at the crash scene, trying to pry the remaining occupants from the burning Mustang. They pulled out two other men. They could not get to the woman in the passenger seat.

“We had our hands on her but we couldn’t get her out,” Harbor Patrol Officer Doug Rangel said.