Five young people were killed in a fiery single-vehicle crash on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Irvine Saturday.

“They were burned beyond recognition,” said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.

Concialdi also said paramedics rushed a sixth person, a male teenager, to Mission Hospital in serious condition. That victim said the carload of teens had been returning from a late-night trip to at Knott’s Berry Farm, according to broadcast reports.

A freelance videographer at the scene said a California Highway Patrol sergeant told him the victims appeared to be in their mid-to-late teens.

No identification was immediately made available as to the age, gender or hometown of the victims.

The vehicle also ignited a small brush fire, he said.

The quarter-acre brush fire was put out within 30 minutes, Concialdi said.

—City News Service

The crash occurred on the 5 Freeway at the Route 133 interchange at 2:12 a.m. a CHP dispatcher said.

Video from the scene showed an older BMW, burned, perched atop a retaining wall but beneath the freeway.

Seven hours after the crash, three lanes of southbound Interstate 5 remained closed as investigators worked.

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