COMMERCE, Calif. -- Three people were killed early Friday and two others were critically injured in a wrong-way crash on a freeway in Commerce, authorities said.

• Video | Images

The head-on collision on the southbound Santa Ana (5) Freeway, just south of Slauson Avenue, was reported at about 3:10 a.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball. Southbound lanes were shut down for about three hours after the crash.

A 2007 Toyota Yaris that was traveling north in the southbound lanes collided with a 1998 Nissan Sentra, said CHP Officer C. Latshar.

The wrong-way driver, a Gardena man identified by the coroner's office as 27-year-old Steven Quintero, was killed, the CHP reported.

Two 20-year-old Anaheim women in the Nissan -- the driver and a backseat passenger -- were also killed, according to the CHP. The driver was identified as Arielle Rose Estremo, and the passenger was identified as Chauncy Alysse Reid, said Craig Harvey of the coroner's office.

Two Garden Grove men, ages 18 and 19, were also riding in the Nissan -- one in front and one in back. They were taken to County-USC Medical Center in critical condition, a Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher said.

The CHP spokesman said a friend of the group in the Nissan was traveling in another vehicle and was a witness to the crash. The witness said he passed by as the crash happened, and the Yaris and the Sentra actually went airborne after colliding.

It was unclear whether alcohol or drugs may have played any kind of role in the crash but "it is suspected," according to California Highway Patrol Officer Luis Mendoza. The two passengers in the Nissan who survived the crash told responding officers that the group had been to a club in Hollywood but had not been drinking.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the victims were wearing seatbelts, CHP Officer Francisco Villalobos said.