Oregon State Police say seven people have died and others have been injured in a crash involving two semi-trucks and a passenger vehicle on Interstate 5 in an agricultural area between Salem and Eugene
ALBANY, Ore. – Seven people were killed and several others injured in a multi-vehicle crash Thursday on Interstate 5 in a western Oregon agricultural area, police said.
Officers responded around 2:05 p.m. to the crash involving two semi-trucks and a passenger vehicle in the northbound lanes about 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of Albany, near the Santiam rest area, Oregon State Police said in a statement.
Seven adults died, police said, but they did not specify how many were injured.
The passenger vehicle involved was a van, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported.
Bodies covered in plastic could be seen in a nearby field, and the Marion County medical examiner was on the scene, the paper said. A Life Flight helicopter left the scene around 2:45 p.m
Police and fire officials put a blue tarp on the wrecked van and placed a barrier near one of the trucks to block the view of the scene, according to the Democrat-Herald.
The van appeared to have been crushed between the trucks, a witness told the Statesman Journal.
“Judging by the damage, it looked like the van was crushed,” Adrian Gonzalez said. “It was hit very hard.”
Two Life Flight helicopters landed and took people away while paramedics treated others on the ground, Gonzalez told the newspaper.
The cause of the accident was investigated.
The northbound lanes of I-5 reopened Thursday night after being closed because of the crash, state transportation officials said.
Albany is located between Salem and Eugene and is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Portland. I-5 is the main north-south interstate highway on the West Coast.
