A college student driving under the influence of alcohol crashed into a traffic light pole in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, early Tuesday morning, killing three passengers.

Local police said a 22-year-old college student, whose name has not been released, crashed the rental car he was driving into a traffic light pole at around 1 a.m. Three passengers were killed, and one was seriously injured. The driver and another passenger sustained less severe injuries. All six people in the car are believed to have been friends at a university in the area.

According to the driver’s statement to the police, the six friends had been drinking at one of their houses from around 7 p.m. on Monday. The accident occurred as the six rented a car through mobile car-sharing application, drove it to a town some 15 minutes from the point of accident, and were headed back to the house.

Police believe the car drove right into the light pole at a three-way intersection, before coming to a stop at the traffic island where the wrecked car was found.

Police said the driver’s blood alcohol content was higher than 0.1 percent, which is high enough to be grounds for the revocation of a driver’s license.

By Choi Ji-won (jwchoikr@heraldcorp.com)