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At least two men are dead after a car crash early Saturday morning on the south end of Austin.

Sheriff’s Deputy Tom Mensink confirmed the one car involved was traveling northbound on Fourth Street Southeast between 1:30 and 2 a.m. when it drove into the west ditch near a curve, hit a fence, severed a telephone pole and snapped a tree.

“We believe speed may have been a factor,” Mensink said. He said the Minnesota State Patrol performed accident reconstruction tests at the scene Saturday.

Another male passenger was injured in the crash, but his condition was not known Saturday.

The car came to rest between two trees in Marsha Downey’s yard, 2810 Fourth Street SE. Downey said she awoke around 2 a.m. to emergency officials in her yard who stayed investigating the scene past sunrise.

“How sad for these people,” Downey said. “They were so young.”

The three men involved are believed to be in their late 20s or 30s, although police are not releasing their names until Monday.

Debris was strewn across Downey’s yard and driveway Saturday: chunks of the telephone pole and tree, broken glass, shards of plastic and metal, and remnants of a burst car battery.

Had the car not struck the tree and telephone pole, Downey said it could have smashed into her living room.