TAMPA, Fla. - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol are investigating the cause of a fatal multi-car crash involving a fire.
According to officials, the accident occurred on Coconut Palm Drive and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Three adults and two children died in the crash.
The ages of the victims range from 9-years-old to 39-years-old.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Pablo Cortes, III, 22, of Brandon was driving a VW Golf with Jolie Bartolome, 19, from Lithia in the passenger seat. They were traveling westbound on MLK approaching Coconut Palm Drive. At the same time, three other vehicles were traveling eastbound on MLK, approaching Coconut Palm Drive. For an unknown reason, Cortes lost control of his vehicle and crossed over the median and collided nearly head-on with a Toyota Sienna, driven by Marianela Murillo, which caught fire. The VW Golf then rotated and collided with a Toyota Scion, driven by Carla Marie Wyman. Debris from the crash hit a BMW 3 series driven by Jamie Javier Ramirez Reye.
Marianela Murillo, 39, of Tampa, was driving the vehicle hit head-on by Cortes. There were four passengers in the car with Murillo at the time of the crash. John Bernal, 9, Isabell Bernal, 10, Luisa Louisa, 15 and Lina Bernal, 18 were in the car. Marianela Murillo died at the scene of the crash and John Bernal and Isabell Bernal died at Tampa General Hospital.
Pablo Cortes, III and Jolie Bartolome died at the scene of the crash.
Gregory Hawkins said he was driving down MLK and saw two cars speed past him. Hawkins said he helped pull children out of one of the cars involved in the crash.
"I pulled her out, then I sat her on the sidewalk. I went back, there was a young kid. I pulled him out, sat him on the sidewalk. I went back there was a heavy set female, tried to get her out. The young gentleman wasn't getting no breath at all really," said Hawkins.
Good Samaritan, Greg Hawkins described for us the moments following horrible Tampa wreck. @abcactionnewspic.twitter.com/7xxMFDGF5T
— Rodney Dunigan (@rodneydunigan) October 27, 2016
Before troopers announced that five people had died in the crash, Hawkins said "You hear 4 people dead that's very tragic situation right now. Knowing that you were talking to one of the females that was in the accident. So now I'm hoping the little kid, the little boy was okay. He wasn't breathing at all but he had a slight pulse."
Neighbors living in the area told ABC Action News a lot of street racing occurs in the area where the crash occurred, but Florida Highway Patrol said there is no evidence of street racing with this crash.
All lanes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard were closed overnight. Officials cleared the crash and reopened the road just before 4:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Pictures show damage from fatal multi-vehicle crash on MLK that took the lives of 5 people #Hillsborough#Tampa#FHPhttps://t.co/6FTA2WCLv9pic.twitter.com/8jcSaHY3Nu
— ABC Action News (@abcactionnews) October 27, 2016
