Hollister
– Two 25-year-old Hollister men were killed early Sunday when a
pickup truck hit a parked tractor-trailer and then caught fire on
San Juan Road near Aromas.
Hollister – Two 25-year-old Hollister men were killed early Sunday when a pickup truck hit a parked tractor-trailer and then caught fire on San Juan Road near Aromas.
The Monterey County Coroner’s Office identified the men as Arturo Duarte, the driver, and Jose Castaneda Jr., his passenger.
The two men were in a 2000 Chevrolet S-10 traveling eastbound on a rural section of San Juan Road, the California Highway Patrol said.
The pickup drifted onto the right shoulder and off the road, where it crashed into the back of the parked tractor-trailer, said Officer Larry Starkey, a spokesman for the Monterey area CHP.
The crash occurred at 2:35am just west of Corey Road, Starkey said.
The pickup caught fire after the crash, he said.
A witness, who had been driving behind Duarte and Castaneda, stopped at the scene but was unable to help the men get out of the pickup because of the fire, Starkey said.
Both men died in the fire, according to the Monterey County Coroner’s Office.
Officers are investigating whether alcohol was involved and if seatbelts were used.
