52-year-old woman killed in wrong-way crash on I-5 in Carmel Valley area

A man driving north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Carmel Valley collided with several cars early Tuesday, June 1, killing a 52-year-old passenger in one of the vehicles and seriously injuring several others.

(File photo)

The crash was reported around 12:50 a.m. on south I-5 at Carmel Valley Road, near state Route 56.

The incident began when the wrong-way driver, a 42-year-old man, slammed his Dodge Magnum head-on into a white Honda Civic traveling south on I-5. After the initial collision, a third vehicle, a Ford pickup truck heading south, crashed into the Dodge, said CHP Officer Salvador Castro.

Arriving paramedics reported that multiple patients were trapped in vehicles, the CHP said.

South I-5 was closed for several hours as the wreckage was cleared and investigators processed the scene of the fatal crash.

The driver of the Honda and one passenger suffered major injuries, while a second passenger in the Civic was killed. The wrong-way driver and the 32-year-old driver of the Ford pickup also sustained major injuries and were transported to a hospital to be treated, Castro said.

It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash. No details about the victims were immediately available.

Southbound traffic was diverted to SR-56 and the on-ramp from Carmel Valley to southbound I-5 was shut down, the CHP said. All the freeway lanes were reopened around 6 a.m.

The CHP asked witnesses to call the CHP San Diego Area Special Investigations Unit at (858) 293-6000.

City News Service contributed to this report.