2 Killed, 6 Hurt in Head-On Collision

Two people were killed and six members of a family were injured when a minivan collided head-on with a station wagon Saturday afternoon near Camarillo Airport, authorities said.

The crash occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on 5th Street, just east of Pleasant Valley Road, the Ventura County Fire Department said.

Two unidentified men in the Subaru station wagon died at the scene. They were described as being in their 30s.

“We were just scrambling to try and make sense of this chaotic mess,” said county Fire Capt. David Kromka. “There were lots of people, passersby, who were trying to help and ... so many injured.”

At the scene, firefighters found four children--two boys and two girls, ranging in age from 9 months to 9 years--lying outside the Chevy minivan with bruises, cuts and broken bones.

Several passing drivers apparently spotted the crash and stopped to assist the injured, authorities said.

The children were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and to Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. Fire officials said their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

Firefighters had to use tools to extricate the children’s parents, who were trapped in the front seats of the minivan. The two adults were flown to Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura.

The names and conditions of the family members, who were from Los Angeles, were not immediately available. The parents’ injuries were described as critical.

The impact of the crash left the blue minivan on its side and the white station wagon crumpled.

Police said it appeared that the minivan had crossed double yellow lines into the path of the station wagon. No drugs or alcohol appear to be involved.