5 Dead After Car Plunges off Cliff on Pacific Coast Highway

Two women and three children were killed after their car plunged off a cliff on California’s Pacific Coast Highway on Monday, KOIN reports.

It is unclear what the nature of the relationship was between the five passengers, who were traveling along Northern California’s Pacific Coast Highway near Mendocino when their car went off a cliff.

A spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol said that a 2003 GMC SUV was driving south on Highway 1 when it pulled into a dirt turnout and continued straight off the cliff, falling about 100 feet into rock and ocean.

Google imaging shows that while the guardrail ends before the dirt turnout does, there is a very large space before the dirt gives way to the cliff. A woman who owns a home near the area said the large turnout made the crash seem strange to her.

The vehicle landed on the roof and the three children were thrown from the SUV. All five passengers were killed. Firefighters rappelled down the cliff to retrieve the bodies and a helicopter lifted them.

Autopsies will be performed, and investigators are looking into the cause of the accident. Neither drugs nor alcohol is considered a factor, nor is the weather, which was clear. The women were from West Linn, Oregon.

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