Early Morning I-5 Pileup Leaves 3 Motorcycle Riders Dead Near Camp Pendleton

Three people believed to have been on motorcycles were killed early Thursday in a fiery multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton.

According to a California Highway Patrol log, the crash was reported just after 3 a.m. on the southbound freeway in the area of Las Pulgas Road. According to the log, the chain-reaction crash began when a vehicle became disabled on the freeway and was struck by a second vehicle, resulting in a fire.

A CHP official told CBS8 a group of four motorcyclists who had been following close behind the second vehicle slammed into the fiery wreckage. Three of those motorcyclists died at the scene, the official told the station.

The southbound freeway was closed between Las Pulgas Road and Highway 76, with vehicles backed up to Cristianitos Road and beyond, the CHP reported.

The closure caused major delays, and motorists were urged to avoid the area.

–City News Service