PLEASANT HILL, Iowa — The Polk County Sheriff's Office says two men are dead following a single-vehicle crash near Pleasant Hill early Saturday morning.
Law enforcement responded to a report of a car fire on Highway 65 just outside of Pleasant Hill shortly after midnight Saturday.
When first responders arrived, they found a car in the east ditch of Highway 65, engulfed in flames. After extinguishing the fire, they found two people dead in the vehicle.
The two people in the car were later identified as 22-year-old Sean Pattschull of Norwalk and 25-year-old Nicholas Chescher of Fontana, Calif.
Witnesses told the sheriff's office the car had been driving north at a high rate of speed when it left the road and struck a tree before catching fire.
Officials believe the excessive speed, combined with wet roadways and fog, could have contributed to the accident.
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