Preliminary reports from AMET say that a group of friends died of severe burns when their vehicle crashed into a coconut palm at Km. 17 Las Americas Highway and caught fire in the early hours of Sunday, 21 December 2014. The driver was identified as Victor Manuel Mercedes who was among the dead. The vehicle belonged to his cousin. The other fatalities were named in the press as Esterlin Garcia Ramirez, Juan Abel Suero Paulino, 22-year old Juan Albert Pereira Paulino, 21-year old Samantha Jimenez and Carmen Leticia Pineda. One young man, 21-year old Jonas Alejandro Paulino Frias, survived the accident and is at the burn unit of the Luis E. Aybar Hospital. As reported, the group had been drinking prior before setting off to Boca Chica at 4am in a small Daihatsu Hijet minivan that reportedly skidded and then crashed into a tree and caught fire.
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/12/21/349978/Cuatro-de-los-cinco-jovenes-muertos-en-Las-Americas-eran-vecinos-en-el
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/12/21/349953/Cinco-jovenes-mueren-calcinados-al-incendiarse-el-vehiculo-en-que-viajaban