1 killed in Highway 118 head-on crash west of Moorpark

A head-on crash on Highway 118 west of Balcom Canyon Road Thursday afternoon killed one of the drivers, authorities said.

The four-vehicle accident, reported shortly after 3:15 p.m. between Somis and Moorpark, injured four other people and closed the route for hours.

California Highway Patrol Officer Ryan Ayers said three of the vehicles had been traveling eastbound: a black Ford Raptor pickup truck, a black Honda Civic and a white Ford Transit-250 van.

As traffic slowed in front of the Raptor, both the Raptor and the Civic slowed down, Ayers said.

The driver of the Ford Transit van, however, was slow to react. The van driver tried to slow but veered left, hitting the left rear of the Honda Civic.

The Ford van went into the opposing lane and hit an oncoming white Toyota Highlander head-on, Ayers said.

The van's initial impact with the back of the Civic caused the Civic to rear-end the Ford Raptor.

Ventura County firefighters initially reported finding three people trapped in the Highlander and a fourth person trapped in one of the other vehicles, Ayers said.

The driver of the Toyota Highlander was declared dead at the scene not long after firefighters arrived. He was ultimately pulled from the wreckage after firefighters cut through the vehicle.

He was identified Friday as Cristobal Sanchez-Perez, 43, of Los Angeles, according to the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office.

Two passengers in the Highlander who were assisted out of the vehicle suffered moderate injuries, Ayers said. The drivers of the Raptor and the Civic were mostly uninjured.

The highway was closed in both direction for investigation and cleanup until about 8:20 p.m. During the closure, traffic backed up along the route, with the jam extending onto northbound Highway 34 in Somis.

Ayers said no one was arrested and CHP investigators don't believe drugs or alcohol were a factor.

The crash is being investigated by the CHP's Moorpark-area office.

This story may be updated.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: 1 killed in Highway 118 head-on crash west of Moorpark