Two young children died while driving drunk collision of two vehicles Wednesday just north of Lompoc, according to the California Highway Patrol.

One of the drivers involved in the crash, 23-year-old Cuyama resident Brian Hernandez-Cervantes, was arrested on charges of impaired driving and causing death, the agency reported.

At 3:50 p.m., a Buellton-area CHP officer on patrol in the Lompoc and Vandenberg Village area attempted to stop an Infinity sedan for speeding, authorities said.

The driver of the vehicle, identified as Hernandez-Cervantes, immediately fled northbound on Harris Grade Road.

The driver then accelerated to high speeds and recklessly passed vehicles on the narrow two-lane road, authorities said.

Less than a minute later, Hernandez-Cervantes failed to negotiate a curve in the road and crashed into a tree with enough force to split the vehicle in half, according to the CHP.

Authorities reported that the front of the vehicle slid down a heavily forested hillside, while the rear of the vehicle skidded across road lanes and collided with another vehicle heading south.

A police officer who arrived at the scene immediately after the crash discovered that the passengers in the Infinity sedan (two children aged three years and seven months, respectively) had died in the crash.

Hernandez-Cervantes was reported to have moderate injuries.

Authorities reported that the driver of the other vehicle was uninjured.

According to the CHP, Hernandez-Cervantes was determined to be intoxicated at the time of the crash and was arrested.

He was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of murder, felony child endangerment, aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving causing injury.

Authorities say the investigation is still ongoing and anyone with additional information regarding the incident should call the Buellton Area CHP office at (805) 691-6160.