Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson

Friends stand near the site of the deadly crash.

GLOCESTER — Two Glocester teenagers were killed and two others seriously injured when their SUV, eastbound on Snake Hill Road, failed to negotiate a curve, slammed into trees and burst into flames at about 4 a.m. yesterday.

Police Chief Jamie A. Hainsworth declined yesterday to identify any of the four. But relatives, friends and classmates identified the dead as Dylan Wood, 18, who was to enter his second year at the Community College of Rhode Island this fall, and Lucas Warner, 17, who was to enter his senior year at Ponaganset Regional High School, and the injured as Ponaganset students Jason Cormier, 16, and Joanna Schiavone, 15.

Cormier was admitted to Rhode Island Hospital with burns, fractures to both legs and punctured lungs; he was reported in critical condition last night. Schiavone was taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where she was undergoing surgery yesterday afternoon for shattered hips and other injuries.

Wood and Warner were in the front seat — it was not determined who was driving — and Cormier and Schiavone in the back seat of the 1989 Chevrolet Blazer when the accident occurred about a quarter-mile west of Tourtellot Hill Road. The police said the vehicle scraped against one tree and slammed into a second tree about 50 feet into the woods.

“Speed was definitely a factor” in the crash, said Chief Hainsworth, who added that there may have been other factors.

Justin Belisle, Cormier’s brother, said he visited him in the hospital yesterday. “He sounded pretty groggy and kept asking what happened to Dylan and Luke,” Belisle said.

“I asked him what they had all been doing, and he said they were just riding around listening to music. I don’t know why they were riding around at that hour.”

Belisle said his brother told him he found himself pinned in the back of the vehicle with Joanna, a classmate, lying unconscious on top of him.

Police Capt. Joseph Mattera and Patrolman Michael Hopton were the first to arrive at the scene and managed to pull the girl out. They used fire extinguishers to keep the flames away from Cormier until firefighters from the Chepachet, Harmony and West Glocester districts arrived and extricated him.

A state medical examiner pronounced Wood and Warner dead at the scene.

Sylvia Pendergast, Wood’s grandmother, said most of the family had gathered at her home, in Sterling, Conn., on Saturday for a reunion and to celebrate her 73rd birthday. But Wood did not go to the party. An aunt, Laurie Choiniere, said he had a summer job at Wydel’s Pizza, in Connecticut, that required him to work that night.

Everyone loved her nephew, Choiniere said. “He was a funny kid. His brother would say, ‘He thinks he’s a rapper.’”

Wood had lived outside Rhode Island for a time, in Oak Ridge, Tenn., with his father. He returned here last year, after graduating from high school, to study at CCRI. Relatives said his father also returned, later, to Rhode Island, and that Dylan, his father and his brother were moving into a newly purchased house in Glocester.

Word of the accident spread quickly, and yesterday scores of students came to the site, on what has been known as a treacherous stretch of road, to sit quietly with classmates and share hugs.

“Luke was awesome,” said one friend who, like most, didn’t want to be named. “He was a goofball; he always made people laugh.”

Warner’s father, Edwin, said his son had planned to enlist in the Coast Guard after graduation next year. He said he played keyboard, drums and guitar and recently put together a band.

Corey Grange said he and Wood were best friends. “He was the one who taught me how to ride a motorcycle.”

Dennis Kafalas, Ponaganset High School principal, confirmed the identities of the four accident victims. Kafalas said he planned to meet today with guidance counselors about possible grief counseling.

rdujardi@projo.com