Eight people were killed and one person was injured Friday after a pickup collided with a minivan carrying farmworkers to their job, the California Highway Patrol said.
"For unknown reasons," an "elderly male" driver in a Chevrolet Silverado drifted into the opposite lane and crashed into a GMC Safari in Madera County around 6:15 a.m., according to agency spokesperson Officer Javier Ruvalcaba.
The drivers of both vehicles and six passengers in the GMC were killed, he said in a statement, adding one person was ejected and another was partially ejected.
The person injured in the collision was taken to the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Ruvalcaba added. His condition was not immediately available Friday afternoon.
The names and ages of the victims were not released, but Ruvalcaba said "all parties are adult males."
The GMC was carrying a total of eight people.
"With the exception of the driver and front passenger of the grey van, the occupants were not wearing seatbelts," Ruvalcaba said.
It's unclear if drugs or alcohol played a factor in the collision, which remains under investigation, he added.