PAJARO -- A Santa Cruz teen died Thursday morning when the car he was driving veered into oncoming traffic and hit a dump truck head-on in North Monterey County. Two of his friends were seriously injured.

The teens had been driving around the Santa Cruz/Watsonville area drinking for several hours before the deadly crash, according to the California Highway Patrol.

"Apparently someone sold them two 18-packs of Tecate," CHP officer Jim Covello said. "They were drinking all night long."

The driver, who was in his late teens, was not identified pending notification of his family. His passengers suffered serious injuries, according to the CHP.

Covello said the beer was purchased for the teens Wednesday night at a liquor store in the Santa Cruz area.

"It sounds like they were driving around drinking until about 3 a.m., when they ran out of beer," Covello said.

At some point, the teens decided to drive San Juan Road toward Gilroy to get to San Francisco, Covello said.

The fatal crash happened on San Juan Road west of Murphy Crossing, about 8 miles east of Pajaro, around 7 a.m. when the teens' 1991 Honda Accord collided with a triple-axle dump truck towing a trailer, the CHP reported.

The dump truck was heading west when the Honda suddenly veered into oncoming traffic and hit the truck head-on, according to the CHP. Both vehicles were traveling about 55 mph, Covello said.

Banuelos, 48, of Hollister, was not injured.

The Santa Cruz teen died at the scene, the CHP reported. Covello said he did not know what the teen's blood-alcohol level was at the time. Results of a toxicology test usually take six weeks.

An 18-year-old man from Aptos in the front passenger seat suffered major injuries, but was stable. Covello said he might have been released from the hospital Thursday afternoon.

A 17-year-old male from Santa Cruz in the back seat suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in intensive care at a San Jose-area hospital, Covello said.

Covello said both passengers are cooperating with the investigation. The CHP reported it doesn't anticipate a criminal prosecution because the driver suspected to be at fault in the crash died.

Apparently a witness, who identified himself only as "Hurtado," was following behind the Honda prior to the crash, Covello said. He stopped briefly at the scene and then left in a white full-size pickup with a utility-type bed. Covello said Hurtado told those at the scene the Honda was "all over the road" before the crash. Because he is the only known witness to the crash, Covello said the CHP would like to talk to him and asked that he or anyone else who witnessed the Honda driving or saw the crash to call CHP dispatch at 796-2160.

The wrecked vehicles and debris blocked San Juan Road, a rural two-lane road that parallels Riverside Drive for several miles, and traffic was detoured around the crash until about noon, when the road reopened.

Three Watsonville farmworkers -- ages 17, 20 and 24 -- died and a fourth was seriously injured in a crash on San Juan Road just outside Pajaro on Super Bowl Sunday. Their car was hit by a suspected drunken driver, who also died in the wreck. Her passenger also suffered serious injuries.