Five people including three prisoners killed in traffic accident

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Five people including three prisoners and a federal marshal were killed, and another four people were seriously injured in a highway accident in heavy rain Thursday.

The accident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. at the intersection of State Route 65 and 7th Standard Road just north of Bakersfield.

A U.S. Marshals van, two tractor-trailers and three other vehicles were involved in the accident, the CHP said.

The U.S. Marshal who was killed had been a deputy since 1988, according to Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Enrique Perez. His name was not immediately released.

The three prisoners were en route from the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi to a Kern County correctional facility, Perez said. Two were on parole after serving time in state prison and were facing federal charges. A third was a current state prison inmate who also faced federal charges, Perez said.

All three were scheduled for hearings at the federal courthouse in Fresno. The inmates' bodies were ''burnt beyond recognition,'' said Tehachapi prison spokesman Vince McLaughlin, who added that prison officials were working with coroners to positively identify the men. McLaughlin said there were no other inmates on the van.

Information on the fifth person killed was not available.

The injured, including another U.S. Marshal, were taken to local hospitals with serious injuries. A spokeswoman for Kern Medical Center said the 49-year-old deputy marshal was in fair condition with stable vital signs. Two other injured parties, a 49-year-old man and a 21-year-old man were listed in fair condition. Information on the fourth injured person was not available. None of them was identified.

CHP spokesman Mack Wimbish told the Bakersfield Californian that either one of the semis or a pickup truck had blown a tire that set off the chain reaction accident.

State Route 65 was closed indefinitely because of the crash.

No other details are immediately available.