Bride Killed In Limo Fire: Limo Catches On Fire While On Bridge, Bride And Four Friends Killed

A newlywed bride was killed in a limo fire. The bride and four of her friends were killed when the limo they were traveling in to celebrate her marriage caught on fire. The limo caught ablaze on Saturday while on a bridge in the San Francisco Bay area.

Investigators are hoping that the four people who escaped the limousine fire will offer information about what may have been the cause of the fire in the limo this weekend, in which the bride and four of her friends died. Nine women and a male driver were on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in the limo when it caught fire in the westbound lane.

The bride has been identified as Neriza Fojas from Fresno. Fojas, 31, was a registered nurse. Fojas and her friends, also nurses, were on their way to a hotel for her bridal shower, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Her new husband was waiting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for them. Fojas was planning a second ceremony for family and friends in the Philippines next month.

San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault told reporters that the driver had pulled over on the bridge after one of the women he was driving told him there was smoke inside the passenger compartment, according to The Associated Press.

By the time the driver pulled over on the bridge and got out, the back of the 1999 Lincoln Town car was fully ablaze. Four passengers escaped the fire, including one who squeezed through the partition between the driver's compartment and the back of the limo.

Five bodies were found clustered near the partition after firefighters put out the blaze. "My guess would be they were trying to get away from the fire and use that window opening as an escape route," Foucrault told reporters.

Police say they are not yet sure how the fire started; they hope the victims will give them some clues into the blaze that spread so fast the rest of the women in the limo didn't have time to escape.

The owner of Air One Limousine Service in San Jose, Calif, Russell McGillicuddy, who had no connection to the limo in question, told reporters that a 1999 Lincoln Town car only has two doors in the back rather than the extra door that is now standard. "It was an aged piece of equipment and I don't believe it had the extra door and they would have to climb over each other and exit through the rear doors," he said.

The names of the women killed have not yet been released.