The two moms and three children killed in a crash in Yamhill County attended church regularly in McMinnville and will be greatly missed by the community.

“The family has been part of the church for a long time. And so a lot of close connections and people just desiring to help in any way,” said Mark Carlson with the McMinnville Covenant Church.

The people who reported seeing the deadly crash to 9-1-1 dispatchers were noticably shaken by the devastation.

The first caller said he saw a speeding car and then a horrible explosion.

 Audio: 9-1-1 call

"Just had a terrible accident in my front lawn... Oh, it's awful. There are three people in the car that I can see, two women and there's a baby crying. They are trapped in the car," the emotional caller told the 9-1-1 dispatcher, his voice shaking.

OSP

A volunteer McMinnville firefighter also called, alerting dispatchers that they would definately need LifeFlight helicopers and equipment to cut the victims out of the car.

Car slammed into a large tree

Investigators said Lena Buchholz was driving a Toyota Camry southbound on Highway 221 near Hopeville around 11:30 a.m. when she crashed the car into a 50-foot tree near a curve in the road.

Names of the victims were released early Wednesday morning. Police said Wendy Medina George, 27, of McMinnville, was killed in the crash, along with her seven-year-old daughter, Soraya and her five-year-old daughter Saira. The two girls were sitting in the back of the car without seat belts.

Buchholz, 20, of McMinnville, also died, but her two-year-old son, Sabian Martinez survived with injuries. Buchholz was driving and she was the only person in the car wearing a seat belt. Her son was in a car seat but it was not properly strapped in, police said.

Ricardo Ramos Zolario, 33, of Salem, was injured. He was sitting in the front of the car without a seat belt. His seven-year-old son, Richard Ramos was not wearing a seat belt, either and he was killed in the crash, police said.

At last report, Sabian had been upgraded to fair condition at Legacy Emanuel Hospital and and Ricardo was listed in critical condition at Oregon Health and Science University.

Witnesses said car was speeding

Witnesses said it looked like the car was speeding, possibly going as fast as 100 miles an hour, just before the crash.

Lt. Marti West, with Oregon State Police, said the skies were clear, the pavement was dry and no other cars were involved. "They were just going too fast," she said.

Barbara Stebbins-Boaz, whose tree was toppled, said speeding is a common problem on that stretch of road and accidents are a "routine experience" for those who live alongside it.

"Sometimes there are hurt people and sometimes they walk away," she said. "This is the first fatality. Five people. It hasn't sunk in."

The highway was closed for several hours during the investigation. Police told KGW it was one of the worst accidents they'd ever seen.