PARTY OF DEATH; 5 YOUTHS PLUNGE OFF CLIFF AFTER HUGE OUTDOOR DANCE.

Byline: Robert Monroe and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writers

Four girls and a boy were killed Sunday morning when their car plummeted down a cliff off Angeles Crest Highway, apparently after leaving an all-night ``rave'' party that drew anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 people, officials said.

A motorist following the eastbound car told officials it went across the road toward a dirt turnout but kept going and fell some 1,200 feet down the cliff near Mile Marker 68.

Four of the teen-agers were thrown from the car. Los Angeles County firefighters found the fifth body inside. The victims' identities weren't released.

``We're all grieving over this. It's senseless,'' said Sgt. Bill Hutton of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Crescenta Valley Station, which patrols the Angeles National Forest.

CHP officer Lou Aviles said the cause was a mystery. ``There wasn't any abrupt movement, and it doesn't appear from any preliminary indication that the driver fell asleep.''

The motorist who saw the car go over called authorities at 7:32 a.m. Sunday and waited until they arrived.

The crash took place on a remote stretch of the highway in extremely rugged, pine-tree-covered mountains due north of the San Gabriel Valley, about 10 miles east of the party site.

The motorist told investigators that the Toyota sedan was traveling between 30 and 40 mph, said California Highway Patrol Officer Ed Aragon, who added that there was no sign of drugs or alcohol in the car.

The identities of the crash victims had not been released late Sunday. Aragon said an identification card from Colton High School in San Bernardino County was found on the male victim.

Also found in the car were ticket stubs to the rave, Aragon said.

The outdoor marathon dance party drew thousands on the last weekend before school begins for many Southland teen-agers.

Among the first firefighters at the crash site was Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mike Ponder, who went to the scene from the rave, which was scheduled to last from 8:30 p.m. Saturday to 8:30 a.m. Sunday at the Snowcrest ski lift near the Kratka Ridge ski area. He was there because of a 5:30 a.m. report of a medical emergency.

Fire Capt. David Plucinski said that during the morning, paramedics had flown three people by helicopter from the rave to area hospitals.

The first flight was at 1:30 a.m. for an unspecified medical problem. Two more were at 9:15 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. to treat drug overdoses. Plucinski said the helicopter was used because it would take too long for an ambulance to get the victims to hospitals.

One young man who went to the rave estimated the crowd size at 8,000. The man, who did not wish to be identified, said a number of people were taking drugs, and the drug he saw most was ecstasy, a synthetic hallucinogen often associated with raves.

He also said that some of the people he encountered told him they were taking in the rave on their last weekend before returning to school.

The young man said parking on the winding mountain road presented a major problem and that several motorists' cars were towed.

``A lot of kids got stranded,'' he said.

Aragon said the U.S. Forest Service had issued organizers a permit to hold the rave at the site, which is below Mt. Waterman and above the Buckhorn Campground, popular with families who pitch tents by a winding creek through the forest.

The mountainsides are so steep at the crash site that firefighters had to rappel down to the wreck to find the bodies.

The California Highway Patrol closed the highway just after the call and kept it closed throughout the day.

In a process that took hours Sunday afternoon, a sheriff's helicopter helped Los Angeles County coroner's deputies extract the bodies.

The manager of a mountain inn near the rave said she saw a number of tow trucks in the area but didn't know whether they were used because of other car crashes or because cars were being towed for illegal parking or mechanical problems.

``I've had at least eight tow trucks out here, and they all have cars on them,'' said Linda Duprey, manager of the Newcomb's Ranch Inn nine miles west of the rave site.

Duprey said she was horrified by the amount of trash left in the forest by partygoers. ``I used to party when I was young, too, but I wouldn't destroy a forest.''

She said there was a smaller rave in the area a couple of weeks ago.

She also said a number of the partygoers stopped by her restaurant the night before and in the morning.

One girl told her, ``My mom and dad are going to kill me - my car got stolen,'' Duprey said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Map

Photo: (1--Color) A sheriff's helicopter circles over the area where five young people were killed in an auto crash.

(2--Color) Rescue workers rappel 1,200 feet down to recover the bodies of five young people killed when their car went off the Angeles Crest Highway.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

Map: Site of rave party - Site of accident