Residents of Dana Point were in mourning after three U.S. Marines were killed in a high-speed car accident there early Tuesday morning. The sole survivor — the driver — was in critical condition.
• Four Marines were in a car that was traveling at high speed when the driver lost control.
• The car slammed into a tree and was crushed with the victims inside.
• All three passengers died. The driver was in critical condition.
The fatal accident occurred at around 2 a.m., according to an ABC News report.
The tragedy, most residents agree, is that the accident did not have to happen at all. There were no other cars involved.
Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said the four active-duty Marines, all of whom were stationed at Camp Pendleton, were in a 2005 Dodge Stratus traveling northbound on Golden Lantern Street when the accident happened.
The car was moving at a very high rate of speed when the driver lost control, Amormino said. It hit a curb and then slammed into a tree. The impact was so violent that the car was crushed and the victims were trapped inside.
The car was so mangled that it took firefighters more than 20 minutes to extricate the victims from the car, Orange County Fire Authority Captain Marc Stone told the North County Times. The two Marines riding in the back seat were pronounced dead immediately.
A Marine who had been riding in the front passenger seat was still alive at the scene, but had suffered critical injuries. He and the driver, who also sustained catastrophic injuriees, were rushed to a hospital in Mission Viejo. The passenger died at the hospital. The driver survived, but was still in critical condition.
All four of the Marines appeared to be in their 20s. Their names were not released, pending military notification of next of kin, the sheriff’s department said.
Amormino said speed appeared to be the main factor in the crash. Water on the road appeared to be a secondary factor.
“We are looking into the possibility whether alcohol was involved in this accident,” Amormino said. “At this stage of the investigation it appears that unsafe speed is the primary cause.”
The makeshift memorial at the tree where the Marines died continued to grow throughout the day, with small American flags waving in the breeze to honor the men.
Marine Chris Hilborn was visibly shaken when he visited the scene to pay his respects. He left a hat with the Marine Corps emblem on it. He said it didn’t matter to him how the accident happened. What mattered was that two Marines were lost.
“It doesn’t make a difference,” Hilborn said. “Once a Marine, always a Marine. That’s what we stand by.”
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