Police in the Central Valley say two people died when the car they were in crashed into a home and caught fire.
Investigators are trying to identify the bodies, which were badly burned in Wednesday's crash in Merced.
Merced Fire Battalion Chief Shawn Henry says the car cut off a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. gas meter and struck the home's electrical panel. That triggered a fire that burned for more than two hours before it was extinguished.
No one was inside the home.
Witnesses tell the Merced Sun-Star they saw the driver slumped over and the passenger reaching for the steering wheel before the crash. They estimated the car's speed at 35 to 40 mph.