Emergency responders work to put out a fire caused from a two-vehicle crash on Thursday afternoon on Interstate 90 in the westbound lanes, approximately a mile east of Alexandria. (Matt Gade/Republic)
By Daily Republic News Today at 11:30 a.m.
ALEXANDRIA, S.D. —
Four people died Thursday in a two-vehicle accident east of Alexandria, according to officials.
Names have not yet been released pending notification of family members, but the South Dakota Department of Public Safety confirmed Friday morning that three men and one woman died in the car crash, which was around 4:30 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 90, 3 miles east of Alexandria.
According to the department, there was one person in one of the vehicles, a 1995 Chevy pickup. The other vehicle's make and model are listed as "unknown" by the department, but there were three passengers and the driver.
The drivers of both vehicles died, as did two of the passengers in one of the vehicles. Another woman, the third passenger in one of the vehicles, suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.
Authorities say the head-on crash was caused by the Chevy driving the wrong way down the interstate—he was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes. The pickup collided with another vehicle, and both vehicles were engulfed in flames, according to the department. The smoke from the crash could be seen from Mitchell, and westbound traffic on Interstate 90 was re-routed at mile marker 350.
Debris from the crash struck a westbound 2014 Toyota SUV. The two occupants of the SUV were not injured.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. Other agencies at the scene were the Hanson County Sheriff's Office, Davison County Sheriff's Office, Hanson County Emergency Management, Alexandria Fire Department, Emery Fire Department and Mitchell Police Division.