At Least 1 Child and 1 Adult Die as 4 Vehicle Crash Erupts into Flames on Calif. Highway

Two people were killed and two others injured in a fiery four-car crash on a San Jose highway on Tuesday, Dec. 2, authorities said.

Firefighters responded shortly after 10:50 a.m. local time to the northbound lanes of the highway near Curtner Avenue in San Jose, Calif., according to CBS San Francisco.

The collision involved four vehicles — two Teslas, a Lexus and a Toyota Sienna — the California Highway Patrol (CHP) told CBS San Francisco and NBC Bay Area. After the crash, both Teslas and the Lexus caught fire.

“It was a pretty robust dispatch from the Fire Department, and upon arrival, crews did find multiple vehicles involved with fire,” Battalion Chief Bennett Yendery told CBS San Francisco.

Two people were pronounced dead, and two others were taken to the hospital. The conditions of the survivors have not been released.

Yendery said the first priority for firefighters was putting out the flames.

“The chain of events … it’s hard to say what happened when,” he said. “A lot of smoke obscuring the situation initially, but when I did gain visual, all three [vehicles] were involved in fire.”

California Highway Patrol temporarily shut down all northbound lanes in the area of the crash, NBC Bay Area reported. CHP later confirmed on X that all lanes had reopened by 3:45 p.m. local time.

Officials told CBS San Francisco that the Teslas’ lithium batteries did not complicate efforts to put out the fire, noting that the blaze was extinguished within a typical time frame.

According to CHP, the two people who died — an adult and a child — were traveling in the Lexus, NBC Bay Area reported. The Lexus driver survived and was hospitalized. The driver of the Toyota cooperated with investigators at the scene and was released.

A person traveling in one of the Teslas was also hospitalized, CHP said.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. CHP told NBC Bay Area that alcohol and drugs are not currently suspected, and none of the individuals involved have been publicly identified.