Five people injured after two crashes on Varner Road Monday morning

THOUSAND PALMS, California (KESQ) - Five people were hurt, including three with major injuries, after two back-to-back crashes along Varner Road Monday morning in Thousand Palms.

The incident started at around 6:00 a.m. on Varner Road near Bob Hope Drive.

The first crash was a head-on crash involving a vehicle and a truck. According to California Highway Patrol Officer David Torres, a silver Nissan Frontier tried to make a pass on the road but ended up crashing head-on with a blue Toyota Camry.

Authorities said there were three people in the car, two of them were stuck and needed to be rescued. The truck had one person inside.

A good Samaritan stopped to help, but when they got out of their vehicle they were hit by another car. This person was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

"We have a lot of very, very substantial accidents here, vehicle accidents here, it looks like this accident. Here were two vehicles involved, and an innocent bystander stopped to help, and she was then struck by another vehicle passing by. So, yeah, very, very dangerous road. Obviously, there's no lights, and the road conditions out here are very, very poor," said CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Robert Williams.

Three people suffered major injuries, two others suffered moderate-to-minor injuries.

Varner Road was closed but was back open a few hours later. The collision remains under investigation.

Stay with News Channel 3 for any new developments.