OCEANSIDE (CNS) - The coroner Saturday identified the driver of a car that crashed into a palm tree in the median of an Oceanside street, killing her and a passenger.
Michelle Reni Cafagna, 20, was driving a white Acura sedan south on El Camino Real near Via Las Rosas in the fast lane at a high rate of speed at about 12:35 p.m. Thursday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office and Oceanside police.
For an unknown reason, the driver lost control and the car hit the median, swerved into the slow lane then skidded sideways across all three lanes before striking a palm tree in the center divider, according to the Medical Examiner's Office and police.
Several witnesses called 911, the Medical Examiner's Office reported.
Both Cafagna and passenger 24-year-old Rizelle Cabana Alamares were still in the car when officers arrived, officials said.
Alamares was pronounced dead at the scene and Cafagna was taken to a nearby hospital where she died despite aggressive resuscitate efforts, according the Medical Examiner's Office.
THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THE PREVIOUS STORY BELOW.
OCEANSIDE (CBS 8) - The identity of a woman killed in an Oceanside car crash Thursday afternoon has now been released.
The county medical examiner says 24-year-old Rizelle Alamares was the passenger in a car that lost control on El Camino Real and slammed into a tree.
The driver of the car, also in her 20's, was air lifted to the hospital, where she later died.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THE PREVIOUS STORY BELOW.
OCEANSIDE (CNS/CBS 8) - Two women were killed Thursday when a car veered off a North County thoroughfare and smashed into a tree, authorities reported.
The accident in the 2100 block of El Camino Real in Oceanside was reported about 1 p.m., according to police.
Emergency crews arrived to find the occupants, both women in their 20s, inside a white sedan. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was also pronounced dead.
According to officials, the car was traveling on the southbound side of the road when the driver lost control, causing the car to slide into a center median, and into the tree.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
