1 dead, 4 hurt as van carrying Navy personnel crashes

JACUMA HOT SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — A van carrying five Navy personnel veered off a Southern California freeway near the Mexican border and crashed Friday, killing one person and injuring four others, three of them critically, authorities said.

The van, which was possibly a military vehicle, was heading toward San Diego shortly before 10 a.m. when it veered off Interstate 8, went down a dirt embankment and hit a boulder near unincorporated Jacumba Hot Springs in southeastern San Diego County, California Highway Patrol Officer Travis Garrow said.

The van was carrying a woman and four men who were believed to be Navy personnel, Garrow told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A man sitting in the middle rear of the Chevrolet Express was killed.

Three of the injured had critical injuries and were flown to San Diego hospitals while a fourth person had moderate injuries and was taken to a hospital by ambulance, authorities said.

The identities of the crash victims weren’t immediately released.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.