Global Courant 2023-05-19 18:08:55
ALBANY, Oregon — Seven people were killed and several others injured in a multi-vehicle accident Thursday on Interstate 5 in a farming area in western Oregon, police said.
Officers responded to the crash involving two semi trucks and a passenger car in the northbound lanes about 7 miles north of Albany near the Santiam rest area at about 2:05 p.m., 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 at around 2:45 p.m
According to the Democrat-Herald, police and firefighters placed a blue tarp over the wrecked van and placed a barrier near one of the trucks to block view of the crime scene.
The van turned out to be crushed between the trucks, a witness told the statesman’s journal.
“Judging by the damage, it looked like the van was trapped,” said Adrian Gonzalez. “It hit really hard.”
Two Life Flight helicopters landed and took people away while paramedics treated others on the ground, Gonzalez told the paper.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
I-5’s northbound lanes reopened Thursday evening after being closed due to the crash, state transportation officials said.
Albany is located between Salem and Eugene and is about 70 miles south of Portland. I-5 is the main north-south highway on the west coast.
