Crash kills 6 on LA area highway pile-up

POMONA, Calif. (AP) — A wrong-way driver on a Southern California freeway caused a pre-dawn crash Sunday that left six people dead, the California Highway Patrol said.

Police were investigating whether alcohol was a factor in the accident that occurred around 4:40 a.m. Sunday on the westbound Pomona Freeway in Diamond Bar and involved multiple vehicles, Los Angeles County Coroner's Lt. Fred Corral told the Los Angeles Times, (http://lat.ms/1dA2aJX).

The unidentified female driver who was traveling eastbound was in critical condition at a Los Angeles County hospital, Corral said.

The dead included four women and two men.

One person also was taken to a local hospital for minor injuries, said Melanie Flores of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Authorities will request that blood tests be conducted.

Investigators "believe from what they found in the vehicle that alcohol was involved," Corral told the newspaper.

The freeway lanes in both directions were closed for hours Sunday morning.