2 killed in fiery crash involving wrong-way driver in Santa Ana; northbound 5 Freeway shut down for hours

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Two people were killed in a fiery, wrong-way crash involving a car and a motorcycle on the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana, shutting down all northbound lanes for hours early Thursday morning.

A Jaguar sedan was traveling southbound on the northbound carpool lane and slammed into a motorcycle head-on, the California Highway Patrol said. Both the car and motorcycle burst into flames.

The driver of the Jaguar and the driver of the motorcycle were killed. The motorcyclist's body was severed in half. No other injuries were reported.

"It's one of the worst ones in a while. When I got to the scene, it was pretty bad," said Officer Florentino Olivera.

The crash occurred shortly before 4 a.m. on the northbound 5 Freeway just south of the 22 and 57 interchange, near the border of Orange and Santa Ana.

CHP officers are not sure why the driver was heading in the wrong direction. They aren't sure if it was confusion or if what happened was intentional.

"We don't know where he got on the freeway. There is an entrance at Gene Autry. Possibly that could have been where he or she entered the freeway. We don't know," Olivera said.

All northbound lanes were shut down for hours and traffic was backed up for miles. Several lanes were reopened around 6:30 a.m. The identities of the deceased were not immediately disclosed.