Woman Killed in 5 Freeway Crash

A 51-year-old Mission Viejo woman was fatally injured today in a collision on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway that left her husband hospitalized.

The crash happened just after 9 a.m. on the northbound 5 just south of the Lake Forest Drive exit, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.

The woman had to be extricated from the passenger seat of a Honda driven by her husband, Concialdi said. She was taken to Saddleback Hospital in Laguna Hills, where she succumbed to her injuries, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Ray Scheidnes.

Her 50-year-old spouse was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, but his injuries, while serious, were not considered life-threatening, Concialdi said.

Their names were not immediately released.

The victims were in a 1997 Honda Civic traveling northbound on the freeway when the driver lost control for unknown reasons and the car veered into the next lane, where it was struck by a 2014 Peterbuilt stakebed truck, according to the CHP.

The Honda continued out of control until it slammed into a concrete wall on the right shoulder of the freeway, the CHP reported. The truck’s driver, a 44-year-old Sylmar resident, was not injured.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock