Three killed when gravel truck careens off highway in Santa Barbara and into a house

A fully loaded gravel truck careened off a highway Tuesday and crushed a house in Santa Barbara, killing a man, woman and child, authorities said.

Firefighters are still searching the collapsed house on the 4100 block of State Street for a possible fourth victim, said Santa Barbara City Fire Capt. Gary Pitney.

The double tractor-trailer full of gravel was traveling southbound on Highway 154 near an overpass of the 101 Freeway when it collided with four other vehicles, careening down a driveway into a house with as many as four people inside.

“It was completely destroyed upon impact,” Pitney said.

Firefighters declared a man and a woman dead at the scene. After an hour of searching the crushed house, they found the body of a child. The victims were not immediately identified.

Fire officials had originally thought there were four people inside the house and used dogs to search the premises. But officials later determined there were only three victims.

Neighbors told authorities they saw the missing person leave on a bicycle before the accident.

Crews were using a vacuum truck to remove gravel from the home.

The gravel truck driver was treated at the scene for minor facial injuries.

The cause of the crash was under investigation. According to logs posted on the California Highway Patrol website, the truck’s brakes may have failed.