2 Camp Pendleton-based Marines killed in car crash on I-5 in Oceanside area

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Military officials confirmed two Camp Pendleton-based Marines were killed in a vehicle crash in the Oceanside area last week.

Officials with the 1st Marine Logistics Groups Communication Strategy & Operations Office stated Cpl. Jacob Johnson and LCpl. Eduardo Hernandez Zambrano -- both with the 1st Maintenance Battalion -- died in an April 25 collision on Interstate 5.

“The command is heartbroken by the accident and doing everything possible to support those grieving this loss,” 1st Marine Logistics Groups Communication Strategy & Operations Office officials said.

According to the California Highway Patrol, officers and paramedics were dispatched to southbound I-5 near Cockleburr Road at around 9 p.m. due to a reported two-vehicle crash.

CHP officials Johnson, 21, was driving a silver Hyundai Genesis when, for reasons unknown, the car “veered to the right and onto the shoulder where it collided into a parked Kenworth truck tractor.”

Emergency responders rushed to the scene, but Johnson and the 19-year-old Hernandez Zambrano -- who was a passenger in the front seat -- were pronounced dead at the scene.

No other injuries or fatalities were reported.

The CHP is asking anyone with information about the crash to contact the Oceanside-area CHP office at 760-643-3400.