Watsonville residents injured in solo Corralitos crash

CORRALITOS >> A Hames Road crash left three Watsonville residents in critical condition Sunday.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the 33-year-old driver of a 2002 Mazda minivan was traveling eastbound on Hames Road with passengers including a 33-yearold woman and 10-yearold female child when he crashed near Hames Hollow

before 5:40 p.m. The Mazda crashed first into a tree on the road's south shoulder and then sheared off a fire hydrant before becoming pinned against a second tree in a ditch, according to CHP spokesperson officer Alyssa Gutierrez and the Cal Fire CZU unit response.

As CHP and emergency personnel began to extricate the Mazda's occupants, they were forced to grapple with water spurting from the damaged fire hydrant, according to the CHP. Two of the three patients needed extensive extrication, according to a social media post by Cal Fire. Units from Cal Fire's Corralitos and Pajaro Valley stations, plus Central Fire District of Santa Cruz County and Watsonville Fire Department responded to the scene.

“The massive amount of water impeded efforts to extricate the occupants from the Mazda, and flooded the roadway, washing away a portion of the shoulder,” Gutierrez said in a media release.

The car's three occupants were airlifted to outof-county trauma centers for treatment of major injuries and were considered to be in critical condition, according to Cal Fire.

The cause of Sunday's crash remained under investigation Monday, but alcohol and/or drugs were not suspected to be a contributing factor, Gutierrez said.