WOODBURY, New York (WABC) --
Two people were found dead inside a car Friday morning following an accident in Orange County.
The car went off the road at the intersection of Smith Clove Road and Mineral Springs Road in Highland Mills, which is part of the town of Woodbury.
Police got a call at about 10:52 a.m. from a passerby who said they saw a silver car about 50 feet into the woods.
Police responded and confirmed the two victims, a male and a female, inside the car. According to police, both victims were in their late teens/early 20's. The female was the driver.
Hours after the accident, the mangled vehicle was pulled from the woods, an unrecognizable mess of twisted metal and broken glass.
The force of the crash was such that the bodies of the victims had to be cut out of the car.
The Pontiac Grand Prix was barely visible from the roadway, but someone driving by noticed it and called 911.
"Somebody called, the accident had already occurred," said Woodbury Police Sgt. John Burke. "We're not sure how long the car had been there."
A state police accident reconstruction team was sent to the scene as investigators try and determine the cause of the crash, though police say speed appears to have been a contributing factor.
The road is notorious for speeding and accidents.
The identities of the victims have not yet been released.
SPEED, DRUGS, DRINKING WHILE DRIVING KILLS
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TOWN OF WOODBURY - A one-car crash that was discovered Friday off Mineral Springs Road left a gray Pontiac a mass of twisted metal and took the lives of two young adults, police said. Town of Woodbury police Sgt. John Bourke said a 19-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man were declared dead at the scene. As of late Friday, police were withholding release of the victims’ names, pending notification of family members. Bourke said the woman who died in the crash was driving, and the man was sitting in the front passenger seat.
He said they were not from the Town of Woodbury. He also said they had different last names, so it was unclear if they were related.
Police said the fatal accident occurred about 100 yards north of Trout Brook Road. Bourke said the car, which was traveling north on Mineral Springs Road, struck a guardrail, veered across the roadway, continued about 50 feet into the woods, and struck a tree.
The crash left the car almost severed in half, with its front section smashed and the windshield shattered. Police worked at the scene for about five hours Friday, removing the victims from the car, then loading the wreckage onto a salvage truck.
Town of Woodbury police were conducting the investigation, with help from state police Accident Reconstruction specialists. Investigators were on the scene most of Friday afternoon. The road was reopened shortly after 4:30 p.m.
Police could not give the exact time that the accident occurred. A passerby spotted the wreck about 10:45 a.m. Friday and notified police, who arrived on the scene shortly before 11 a.m. Bourke said the cause of the accident had not been determined, and the investigation will continue into the weekend.
Bourke could not immediately say how fast the Pontiac was traveling when it ran off the road. He said the speed limit on that section of Mineral Springs Road - a two-lane, rural road - is 50 mph.
Bourke said the investigation will look into whether speed was a factor in the crash or if alcohol or drugs were involved.