Middlesex County authorities are looking into a crash that killed three women on a highway in Woodbridge on Saturday morning.
According to preliminary reports, the collision happened at around midnight in the northbound lanes of Route 1 -just past Fords Avenue- where emergency responders rushed to the scene after they received reports of a crash with trapped occupants inside a car at that location.
Police arrived at the scene and found a car underneath a tractor-trailer after the driver of the vehicle reportedly rear-ended the truck at a high rate of speed.
Firefighters and rescue crews worked frantically to extricate the occupants inside the vehicle, but two victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say one person was transported to Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, suffering severe injuries. The victim was pronounced dead a short time later.
At 9:47 a.m. Woodbridge Police confirmed the following: "The driver of the sedan was identified as 23-year-old Ms. Brianna Martinez, and the two other passengers were identified as 23-year-old Ms. Michaela Powell, and 24-year-old Ms. Uchechukw Chukwuma".
Police say all of the women are under 25-years-old.
Police closed the northbound lanes from Grandview Avenue in Edison to the Garden State Parkway for the crash investigation.