A collision on a central Minnesota highway left two passengers in an SUV dead and the driver critically injured, officials said.

The crash occurred shortly after 7:30 a.m. Sunday south of Sauk Centre in Getty Township, the State Patrol said.

A pickup truck was heading south on Hwy. 71 and collided with an SUV as it headed east on County Road 28, the patrol said.

Two passengers in the SUV were killed: Lener Salgado Carrasco, 30, of Melrose, Minn.; and Nayeli Hernandez, 20, of Sauk Centre, according to the patrol. The driver, Elver Haniel Hernandez Carcamo, 23, was taken by emergency responders to St. Cloud Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The patrol did not list a home city for him.

The pickup driver, Matthew Malcolm Newman, 54, of Sauk Centre, survived his injuries, the patrol said.