Two teenagers died in a fiery crash on Interstate 270 in Montgomery County on Friday after the car they were riding in was struck by a hit-and-run driver, and then by a second car, the state police said.
Luis Isaac Bran, 17, of Gaithersburg, was killed along with Rebeca Gabriela Vasquez Moreno, 18, who was from El Salvador, the state police said.
Both were passengers in a 2018 Toyota that was driven by Esperanza Del Carmen Vasquez De Bran, 50, also of Gaithersburg, the police said. She was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Police said they think the woman is the mother of the 17-year-old victim and the aunt of the 18-year old.
The crash occurred shortly before 5 a.m. in the northbound lanes of the interstate near Falls Road, according to the state police.
Both the Toyota driven by the woman and a silver 2003 BMW convertible were driving north on the interstate when the BMW struck the rear of the Toyota, police said.
After the collision, the BMW left the scene, the police said.
While in the travel lanes, the police said, the Toyota was struck again in the rear, by a 2015 Ford, in what investigators called a secondary crash. The driver of the Ford declined medical treatment, according to a police account.
Rescuers who were sent to the crash site found a vehicle on fire with two passengers trapped inside. A third person got out of the vehicle, according to Pete Piringer, the spokesman for the Montgomery fire and rescue service.
The BMW that investigators think first struck the woman’s car was later found disabled and abandoned on the right shoulder of the road, police said. It was about a half-mile north of the crash site, according to the police account.
They said they are trying to identify its driver.
Roads were closed for about six hours, police said.
This story has been updated.