CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A speeding car slammed into a tree in Dana Point Tuesday, killing three Camp Pendleton-based U.S. Marines and critically injuring a fourth, authorities said.
The Dodge Stratus crashed at Golden Lantern Street just past Terra Vista at 2:05 a.m., said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
"We are looking into whether alcohol was a factor,'' he said.
The servicemen were all in their early 20s, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Marc Stone, who said it took about 20 minutes for firefighters to cut the victims out of the car.
The two men in the back seat were declared dead at the scene, and the driver and another man in the front passenger seat were taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo in critical condition.
The passenger was pronounced dead a short time after arriving at the hospital, and the driver was in critical condition, Amormino said.
The Stratus was northbound on Golden Lantern at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control of the car, which hit a curb before slamming into a tree just past Terra Vista, Amormino said.
The names of the victims were not immediately released.
