7 people are dead after a truck and tour van collided near Yellowstone, police say
Rescue workers arrive to the scene after a deadly collision between a pickup truck and tour van near Henry s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho on Thursday May Roger Merrill via AP Rescue workers arrive to the scene after a deadly collision between a pickup truck and tour van near Henry s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho on Thursday May Roger Merrill via AP BOISE Idaho AP A pickup truck and a tour van with foreigner visitors including two people from Italy collided on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park leaving seven people dead and eight others injured Idaho State Police noted The crash happened just before p m Thursday on U S Highway near Henry s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho police disclosed in a news release The state park is roughly miles kilometers west of Yellowstone National Park Police have not reported what exactly caused the wreck but the Dodge Ram truck was traveling west while the Mercedes van was traveling east toward Yellowstone when it happened Video from the scene evidenced clear weather conditions at the time Both vehicles caught fire police stated The driver of the pickup and six people inside the Mercedes rider van died The truck driver was identified Friday as Isaih Moreno of Humble Texas Identifying the others will take a few time according to police Fremont County coroner Brenda Dye reported The New York Times that she was waiting for DNA test results to identify the six others because the bodies were unrecognizable She mentioned all six were from outside the U S Two were from Italy and it wasn t instantly known where the others were from she announced The van was carrying a tour group of people and the surviving occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries police spokesperson Aaron Snell mentioned Two were flown to an Idaho Falls hospital and one was flown to a Bozeman Montana hospital according to police Their conditions were not issued The others were taken to area hospitals with injuries held to be non-life-threatening police announced The crash remains under scrutiny Roger Merrill was driving home when he saw flames engulfing the two vehicles as bystanders tried to care for survivors from the van on the side of the highway Merrill stated he often sees tourist vans on the highway It is a very dangerous highway because it leads to the main entrance of Yellowstone National Park he noted It s extremely busy Merrill captured video of the wreckage with smoke blanketing the van Due to the remote location Merrill mentioned he anxiously awaited the help of first responders It took an unnervingly long time for help to arrive just because of the location he disclosed Police revealed Friday that a Fremont County sheriff s deputy arrived shortly after the crash and with the help of bystanders this instant helped injured van occupants as it caught fire The state is working with local personnel to get answers on what led to this terrible tragedy Idaho Gov Brad Little declared in a social media post The Idaho Transportation Department had identified the highway for safety improvements aimed at reducing the severity of crashes but the project was still in the research and planning phase An average of about vehicles traveled that portion of the highway daily in according to the agency Dupuy revealed from New York City Associated Press reporter Lisa Baumann contributed to this story from Bellingham Washington Source
