A man and a boy were killed and three others were critically injured in a collision on a western Wisconsin highway involving a van with 10 people inside and a car with four occupants, officials in Barron County said.
2 killed, 3 critically hurt in western Wisconsin collision
All nine of the other people in the two vehicles were taken to nearby hospitals with injuries from minor to serious, according to the Barron County Sheriff's Office.
May 30, 2023 at 12:21PM
The crash occurred at about 5:50 p.m. Monday north of Ridgeland, Wis., on Hwy. 25 at County Road A, the Sheriff's Office said.
The two killed were a 54-year-old Spooner, Wis., man who was a passenger in the van, and a 13-year-old boy from the Elmwood, Wis., area, who was a passenger in the car. Their names have not been released.
All of the others in the two vehicles were taken to nearby hospitals with injuries from minor to serious, according to the Sheriff's Office. The ages of the passengers in the van ranged from 8 to 54, while the ages of the people in the car ranged from 13 to 17.
According to the Sheriff's Office:
The van was heading north on Hwy. 25 and was struck by the car traveling west on County Road A. The van overturned in a ditch and caught fire.
The driver of the van, a 54-year-old man from Rice Lake, Wis., and two 17-year-old boys who were in the car were taken by air ambulance to a hospital in critical condition.
The car's driver, also 17, was taken by ground ambulance to a hospital in serious condition. The car's four teenage occupants were related family members, all from the Elmwood area.
After the van caught fire, a deputy suffered smoke inhalation as she helped people escape the van and get away from grass that had started on fire, Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said.
The deputy is at home recovering, Fitzgerald said in an updated news release Tuesday. The sheriff commended the deputy for "putting herself in harm's way to get people away from the fire," and thanked several citizens who stopped to help.
The highway was closed for four hours to allow emergency responders to tend to the vehicles' occupants and get the wreckage cleared.
Given the number of victims, many agencies and emergency vehicles responded to the scene. They included the Barron and Dunn county sheriff's offices, the State Patrol, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, three fire departments, eight ground ambulance services, and two air ambulance services that sent in four helicopters.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
