Fiery head-on crash kills driver on rural stretch of Merced County highway near Los Banos

A person was killed in a two vehicle collision on a rural stretch of Highway 165 on Friday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The person killed was driving a Honda, of undetermined make and model, northbound on Highway 165 while the driver of a dump truck, a Turlock man, was traveling southbound.

This particular stretch of the highway — between Los Banos and Stevinson in Merced County — is a two-lane road.

The driver of the Honda was using the southbound lane to pass drivers and collided head-on with the truck at about 7 a.m, according to the CHP.

The Honda was “completely engulfed in flames” as a result of the crash. The driver of the Honda was pronounced dead at the scene by responding California Department of Fire personnel 45 minutes after CHP got the report of the collision.

The driver of the dump truck, 37-year-old Davood Khodyseporgh, was taken to Emanuel Hospital in Turlock with what the CHP release called minor injuries. The identity of the person killed in the collision was not released as of Friday afternoon.

Typically, a coroner’s office does not disclose the identity of someone who’s died until next of kin is notified.

It was unknown as of Friday afternoon if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the collision.