Authorities said nine people, most of them children, were killed Friday night in a head-on crash on Highway 33 near Avenal.
Officers around 8 pm. He received a report of a crash on Highway 33 south of Sutter Street, Sgt. Brian Benings of California Highway Patrol. Emergency crews arrived to find a 2007 Ford vehicle that caught fire, and it was later found that it was still occupied during the fire, resulting in the deaths of all passengers.
An investigation found that the sole occupant of a 2013 Dodge, identified as Daniel Luna, 28, of Avinale, was heading south on Interstate 33 near Sutter Street at an unspecified speed when the car deflected onto the dirt shoulder. The driver over-corrected, turned back on the road and hit the front of a Ford, heading in the opposite direction.
Bennings said that after the crash, a Ford hit the dirt shoulder and caught fire and caught fire. Dodge came to rest on both sides of Fast Track 33.
After crews put out the blaze, officials found eight passengers in the Ford, which seats five.
Spokesman Tony Botti said that the Fresno County Coroner office had not yet revealed the identities of the victims in the Ford car, but said the driver was an adult woman and that the passengers were seven children, believed to be between the ages of 6 and 15. These are two different families that are related to each other.
Due to the nature of the accident, officials have not positively identified everyone in the Ford vehicle and will provide names once the process is complete.
The accident is still under investigation and it is not known at this time whether alcohol or drugs were a contributing factor.
