TEMECULA, California — Two people were killed on Thursday afternoon, October 22, when a white SUV collided head-on with a truck carrying lift equipment on State Route 79 near Horizon View Street in Temecula, according to local reporting based on California Highway Patrol (CHP) information. This stretch of the highway is known locally as Temecula Parkway.
Source: Patch via HeyDay News
Both people inside the SUV were pronounced dead at the scene. Patch reported, citing CHP information, that the SUV was destroyed and caught fire after the collision and that neither occupant escaped. Riverside County Fire Department crews reached the scene within minutes and extinguished the blaze, Patch reported. The two people killed had not been publicly identified, and the available accounts did not establish their genders.
The truck driver got out of his rig without assistance. Reports from the scene described minor injuries, and he declined an ambulance, according to Patch. He was also not named. The CHP dispatch log for the incident, recorded from 2:39 p.m. Pacific time, described a head-on, two-vehicle collision involving a big-rig truck carrying a lift and a white SUV, with both lanes blocked.
Source: CHP Fatal Accident Feed
Highway closed, cleanup took hours
A SigAlert — a warning of major traffic disruption — was issued at about 2:53 p.m. Valley News reported a CHP Temecula advisory that all lanes east of Horizon View Street were closed for the fatal-crash investigation, while Patch described a partial shutdown with officers directing traffic. The CHP log later recorded all lanes closed. No confirmed reopening time was established in the available reporting, so Thursday's restrictions should not be treated as a current traffic advisory.
The tractor-trailer also leaked oil and other fluids, requiring hazardous-materials cleanup alongside removal of the wreckage — work that was expected to take several hours on Thursday afternoon, Patch reported.
Cause not yet established
CHP is investigating which vehicle entered the opposing traffic lanes and why. The preliminary account does not identify that vehicle, and speeds had not been confirmed. Rain had fallen minutes before the crash, Patch reported, but investigators have not determined a cause, and the rain alone is not a finding of responsibility. The accounts also do not establish the precise medical cause of either death.
Head-on collision, about 2:39 p.m. on Oct. 22, SR-79 at Horizon View Street, Temecula; white SUV vs. truck carrying lift equipment; both SUV occupants dead at the scene; truck driver minor injuries; highway disrupted in both directions. Cause and fault: not yet established by CHP.