5 killed in 2-car crash on PCH near Point Mugu in Ventura County

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - Five people were killed in a fiery two-car crash on Pacific Coast Highway near Mugu Rock in Ventura County Sunday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash happened around 4:30 a.m. on PCH north of Mugu Rock near Point Mugu, officials said. Mugu Rock is about 11 miles southeast of Oxnard.

When emergency crews arrived at the scene of the crash they found two cars completely engulfed in flames. Officers said it was a head-on wreck. Four people were dead in one car. One dead in the other. Some of the victims were burned so badly officers said dental records may be needed to help confirm the identities of some of them.

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Because it's difficult to determine what happened from the wreckage, CHP brought out its MAIT (Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation) Teams. The MAIT teams are a sort of CSI unit, trained on solving the mysteries of wrecks like the one near Mugu Rock. Sgt. "That's their specialty, among others, is to do accident reconstruction," said CHP Sgt. Michael Untalan.

Untalan said Sunday's crash will take a lot of work to figure out. The wreckage was so bad, CHP even used a drone to fly over the seen to try to answer questions like which car crossed the center line, hitting the other head-on. 

"When you have a traffic collision of this magnitude, and you have the amount of people that perished, then you sent a drone up," Untalan said. "It's going to help us not only get video footage, but photographs of the entire scene because you definitely get a different perspective when you have a drone up in the air as opposed to when we're doing an investigation on the ground."

Untalan said using a drone instead of a helicopter also prevents evidence from being blown away by the chopper's rotors.

The cause remains under investigation. The coroner's office has yet to identify the victims. CHP Ventura reported both north and southbound lanes are closed for an unknown time as the investigation continues.