All lanes of the northbound I-5 Freeway in Orange County were reopened late Thursday morning, hours after a multicar chain-reaction crash that left two people dead and four injured
That collision in the northbound lanes in Irvine was so violent that debris was scattered over a quarter of a mile and took hours to clear, authorities said.
The driver and passenger in a Toyota Camry were both pronounced dead at the scene of the 4:41 a.m. five-car accident.
The Orange County Coroner’s office later identified the driver as Sherry Butler, 46, and her passenger as Andrew Hays, 52. Both were from Rancho Santa Margarita.
Capt. Steve Concialdi, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority, said firefighters had to peel off the roof of the Toyota to extricate the bodies.
