The driver of a late-model Volks­wa­gen Beetle was killed Thursday afternoon in Wai­alua when his speeding car split in two after crossing a double solid line and colliding with two oncoming vehicles, police said.

"There’s a lot of debris and a lot of body parts," said Lt. Robert Towne. "It’s a traumatic scene, especially for these tourists."

The gruesome head-on collision at 3:31 p.m. Thursday also resulted in serious injury to four visitors on Kamehameha Highway near a Wai­alua coffee field on the Hale­iwa side of the Dole Plantation.

The Beetle driver was "traveling at a high rate of speed" on Kamehameha Highway, headed for Hale­iwa, when he lost control and crashed head-on with a Chevrolet compact car occupied by two male European tourists heading toward Wahiawa, Towne said.

Part of the vehicle struck a full-size Dodge van occupied by a couple from Japan traveling behind the Chevrolet.

The Beetle driver was ejected and died at the scene, police said.

Police confirmed a radio transmission by Emergency Medical Services personnel that the man who died was ejected and "whipped through" the van’s windshield, some of his body parts landing in the back of the van.

Towne said the vehicles were spun in different directions.

Department of Emergency Services spokes­woman Shayne Enright described the accident as "horrific," saying the dead person’s gender could not initially be determined.

The two Japanese, a male driver and a female passenger, both in their 30s, were taken by ambulance in serious condition to the Queen’s Medical Center.

The two European men, a 21-year-old front-seat passenger and the 23-year-old driver of the Chevrolet, were treated for abrasions and also taken to Queen’s in serious condition.

Towne said none of them speaks English, and police were trying to get translators.

Police shut down Kamehameha Highway between Joseph P. Leong Highway and Paa­laa Uka Pupu­kea Road after the accident while Vehicular Homicide Section officers conducted an investigation. Police estimated the investigation would take five hours.