RENTON, Wash. — Two single-car accidents resulted in five fatalities within 45 minutes of each other early Saturday morning in Renton, according to police.
Both accidents involved vehicle fires.
The first accident occurred just before 12:30 a.m. at Southeast Petrovitsky Road and 126th Avenue Southeast. When first responders arrived, a 2010 Mercedes was engulfed in flames. After the fire was put out one victim was located deceased inside the vehicle.
Investigators determined that the Mercedes was traveling at a high rate of speed approaching a bend in the roadway on the 12300 block of Southeast Petrovitsky Road when the driver struck a curb, the vehicle left the roadway, struck a tree and caught on fire.
The second accident happened at around 1:15 a.m. on the 400 block of Rainier Avenue North. When first responders arrived, a 2004 Toyota Camry was split in half and several of the occupants of the vehicle had been ejected on impact. The front of the vehicle was on fire.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene and one person was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. The roads in the area were closed for several hours for the investigation.
The initial investigation determined the vehicle was traveling south on the 500 block of Rainier Avenue North at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control of the vehicle and slide sideways down the road, colliding with a large tree. The force of the impact caused the rear half of the vehicle to separate from the front half, and the front half to catch on fire.
Identities of the victims will be released by the King County Medical Examiner at a later date. Anyone with information on either of these crashes is asked to call 911 and reference Renton Case #23-8920 for the incident with the Mercedes or Renton Case #23-8922 for the incident with the Toyota Camry.