Freeway Crash at Rush-Hour Stalls Traffic for 10 Miles : Accident: The wreck forced officials to close northbound lanes on the Santa Ana Freeway for almost three hours.

IRVINE —  A crash involving a moving van, a produce truck and a pickup injured five people and brought rush-hour traffic to a halt for 10 miles on the Santa Ana Freeway on Friday.

The accident occurred at 3 p.m. when the produce truck, traveling south on the freeway near Alton Parkway, rammed into the back of a pickup truck which was stopped in traffic, said CHP officer Diana Angelici.

“The impact from that accident caused the produce truck to veer sharply to the left and it crashed through the concrete center divider of the freeway and struck a piano moving van head-on which was northbound in the freeway car-pool lane,” Angelici said.

Officials were forced to close all northbound lanes of the freeway at Alton Parkway for close to three hours as crews cleared the wreckage and cleaned up a minor fuel spill. Traffic backed up for 10 miles, to Junipero Serra Road in San Juan Capistrano, before the freeway reopened at 5:50 p.m.

Although the California Highway Patrol tried to divert northbound traffic onto the San Diego Freeway, hundreds of drivers missed the interchange and found themselves stuck in motionless traffic until they were able to inch off the Alton Parkway off-ramp.

“This was a major incident for us,” Angelici said. “Both sides of the freeway were affected because the southbound lanes had a lot of looky-loos.”

Two of the victims were trapped inside their trucks and had to be freed by emergency crews, Angelici said.

David Gates, who was driving the piano moving van, suffered a broken leg and possible internal injuries. His passenger, David Tway, 32, of Anaheim, also suffered a broken leg. Both were taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, Angelici said.

The driver of the produce truck, 27-year-old David Aquino of Solana Beach, and his passenger, Cristato Nando, 28, of Leucadia, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Irvine Medical Center.

The driver of the Toyota pickup truck, Sven Bolen, 27, of Lake Forest, suffered minor injuries and was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

The accident remains under investigation.