2 Martinez Residents Killed After Head-On Collision

MARTINEZ - Two Martinez residents died when their vehicle landed upside down in a canal after a head-on collision late Sunday night just outside Contra Costa County, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The incident occurred at 11:22 p.m. on state Highway 4 about a mile east of the Old River Bridge, where Contra Costa County becomes San Joaquin County, CHP spokesman Officer Khalid Rashid said.

A Dodge van carrying six Martinez residents was driving on the two-lane highway's westbound side when it was involved in a crash with a Chevrolet pickup truck driven east by a 41-year-old San Pablo man.

For reasons not yet determined, the truck crossed into the opposite lane, Rashid said. The van swerved right to evade the oncoming truck but was struck and overturned, Rashid said.

The van landed in a drainage canal next to the highway.

A good Samaritan who witnessed the incident extricated passengers from the submerged van, Rashid said.

All four of the passengers in the vehicle's rear seats -- a 24-year-old man as well as children aged 10, 9 and 2 -- were then taken by responding medical personnel to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Rashid said.

The 48-year-old man driving the van and a 45-year-old woman in the front passenger seat died at the scene.

Rashid said whether they died by drowning or from injuries suffered in the crash has not been determined.

The 41-year-old truck driver suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated by the CHP.

-By Bay City News Service, image via ShutterStock