A 34-year-old sedan driver was killed and his 24- year-old passenger suffered serious injuries Tuesday morning when the car slammed into the back of a semi truck and caught fire on Interstate 15 in the Scripps Ranch area.
The crash involving a 2006 Pontiac G5 sedan and a 2009 Kenwood big rig occurred around 3:05 a.m. on northbound I-15 south of Miramar Way, California Highway Patrol Officer Jake Sanchez said.
The Pontiac rear-ended the semi truck for unknown reasons in a middle lane on the highway and the sedan ended up engulfed in flames in the center divide, he said.
A passenger was able to get out of the car, but the 34-year-old driver was trapped inside and pronounced dead at the scene, the officer said. The man, whose name was withheld pending family notification, was from Hartford, Connecticut.
The passenger, a 24-year-old Escondido woman, was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital for treatment of major injuries, Sanchez said.
A 46-year-old San Diego man behind the wheel of the semi truck was uninjured and remained at the scene, he said.
Firefighters knocked down the flames within 15 minutes, a San Diego Fire-Rescue dispatch supervisor said.
CHP officers shut down all northbound lanes for the crash investigation. The lanes were reopened by 5:20 a.m.
The deadly crash came one day after a semi truck crashed into a sedan on southbound Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton, leaving the sedan ablaze and killing the sedan driver.
Updated at 10:15 a.m. Oct. 15, 2019
— City News Service
