Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Missing teenagers found in lake after 40 years

Human remains found in two cars pulled from an Oklahoma lakebed could be those of people who went missing more than four decades ago, police have said.

Custer County authorities were taking sonar readings at Foss Lake last week when they found the cars.

On Tuesday they pulled a 1969 Camaro and a 1950s-era Chevrolet to shore and found six bodies, local media report.

Sheriff Bruce Peoples said the Camaro might belong to a teenager last seen with two friends in November 1970.

Jimmy Williams, 16, Thomas Rios and Leah Johnson, both 18, told friends they were going to a high school football game, or hunting.

Body identified

The Chevrolet may hold the remains of two men and a woman who went missing a year earlier.

John Porter, 69, was travelling in a green 1953 Chevy with a sibling and a 58-year-old female friend when they all vanished in April 1969.

The remains have been turned over to the medical examiner's office. At least one body has been identified, though the name has not been publicly released.

"It's closure for those families that no longer have to wonder what happened to their loved ones and that's one of the reasons, of course, we investigate this to determine if a crime was committed," Sheriff Peoples told KOCO television.

Both vehicles were submerged in about 12ft (3.6m) of water, about 50ft from the end of a boat ramp.

However, Sheriff Peoples was not surprised they had not been found for so long.

"This lake isn't crystal clear," he told the Associated Press news agency.

"It's a typical western Oklahoma lake with a lot of silt in it. The visibility is only six to 12 inches on a good day."