By NBC Chicago and msnbc.com wire services
A speeding car hit a support beam of a Chicago elevated train track, crashing with enough force for the vehicle to split in two and killing four young mothers inside, authorities said Sunday.
Family and friends grieving on Mother's Day said all four women were mothers who were out for the night and had planned to attend a party. The crash left six children without mothers.
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Images from the scene showed the vehicle was ripped in two, and mangled into a heap of metal unrecognizable as a car.
The crash happened in the 4800 block of West Lake Street just after midnight Sunday.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Hector Alfaro said the car was traveling fast when it hit a cement beam that supports Chicago Transit Authority 'Green line' tracks on the city's West Side before it ran into a light pole.
NBC Chicago: Crash Rips Car in 2, Killing 4 Young Women
Four women in their 20s were inside. Three died at the scene. A fourth woman, Ieshia Nelson, 21, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:48 a.m.
Family identified two of the other victims as 21-year-old Tyshyra Hines, and 25-year-old Bernadette Harris, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Harris' sister, Sheila Harris, told the newspaper that her sister was a devoted parent to three children, ages 4, 6 and 8.
"She'd go above and beyond for her kids," she said. "She was an outstanding mother."
The Chicago Police Department Major Accident Unit is investigating.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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