Three hospitalized after collisions on 405 Freeway

Two car accidents within minutes of each other on the northbound 405 Freeway on Tuesday morning sent three people to the hospital, including one to a nearby trauma center, authorities said Tuesday.

During the morning rush hour at 7:39 a.m. four vehicles slammed into each other on the northbound 405 Freeway north of Bristol Street in Costa Mesa, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The accident blocked the left three lanes for more than an hour. Details were not immediately available on how the accident happened, but authorities said one person was sent to Western Medical Center’s Trauma Center in Santa Ana with moderate to serious injuries. Another was sent to UCI Medical Center in Orange, officials said.

Minutes later and only a few hundred yards south, two more cars crashed in the carpool lane, sending one person to the hospital, officials said.

That person suffered only minor injuries.

— Joseph Serna