SAN DIEGO – Two men were killed and two teenage girls suffered severe injuries when they jumped off a roughly 80-foot-high bridge following a solo-vehicle crash on state Route 56 in the Carmel Valley area, authorities said Wednesday.
The crash was reported around 11:05 PM Tuesday on eastbound state Route 56 just west of Carmel Valley Road, California Highway Patrol Officer Jake Sanchez said.
A 2012 Nissan Altima was being driven eastbound on the freeway — with six people inside — when it spun out and crashed into a metal guard rail on the north side of the freeway, Sanchez said.
The sedan came to rest blocking the left lane of the bridge over Gonzales Creek and the car’s six occupants got out and began running southeast toward the right shoulder of the freeway, the officer said.
Four people jumped over the concrete wall on the south side of the freeway for unknown reasons while the other two people continued heading eastbound on the right shoulder, Sanchez said.
Emergency personnel responded to the scene and found an 18-year-old man, a 15-year-old girl, a 14-year-old girl and another man, whose age was not immediately available, about 80 feet below the freeway, he said.
The two men were pronounced dead at the scene, while the two girls were taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla for treatment of severe injuries, Sanchez said. An update on the girls’ conditions was not immediately available.
As of 9:30 AM, authorities were still searching for the other two occupants of the Nissan.