A pickup truck collided with a church van in a Maryland
suburb of the nation's capital Sunday, leaving four people dead, 14
others injured and the pickup truck engulfed in tall flames, authorities
said.
Three people in the church van were killed, including a young child,
along with the driver of the pickup truck, said fire department
spokesman Mark Brady in Maryland's Prince George's County.
He said that 14 others — six children and eight adults — were taken to
various hospitals. He said that eight of those were in critical
condition, including four children, and others appeared to have serious
injuries. The van was loaded with both adults and children.
The accident occurred on a road in Hyattsville, a community just northeast of Washington, D.C., about 5 p.m. Sunday.
Brady said police believe the pickup truck initially rear-ended a
passenger vehicle before going several hundred feet further up a road,
losing control and then crossing a double yellow center line into the
path of the van. Once the pickup truck had crossed over the line, the
van struck it on the right side and the truck caught fire, he told The
Associated Press.
"The fire actually involved the pickup truck" and not the van, he said
by phone. Some bystander photos posted on social media showed flames
rising above the crash site not far from the van, which Brady said could
hold 15 passengers and had front-end damage from the crash.
He said the investigation was just in preliminary stages and that
authorities are seeking to reconstruct the accident in exacting detail.
Brady said the crash was one of the worst scenes he has worked in a
40-year career. He said the adults in the van were mostly in their 20s
and 30s and that the children ranged from 4 to 10 years old. He added
late Sunday that authorities were not yet releasing the names or the
identity of the church group and drivers involved while relatives were
being notified.
He added the crash was so bad that firefighters went through a "critical
incident" debriefing afterward. "They were met with by counselors to
make sure everyone was ok after dealing with an incident involving so
many people, so many injuries and fatalities," he said.
ABC News
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