The California Highway Patrol says a crash on a rainy Southern Californian freeway has killed five people.

Officer Anthony Martin says as many as four vehicles were involved in the crash at about 12:15 a.m. Monday on the southbound Interstate 5 freeway in the Newhall Pass, near Santa Clarita.

Authorities say one vehicle was a pickup truck that overturned and some of the dead may have been children or teenagers.

The cause of the crash is under investigation but it was raining at the time.

The crash site is about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.