LOS ANGELES, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Five people, including three children, have been killed and two others injured in a multi-vehicle crash in the U.S. state of Colorado, local authorities said.
According to a statement from the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), the accident occurred just after 4:30 p.m. Monday local time, involving a Toyota hatchback, a Ford sedan and a Ford pickup on Highway 83 near Franktown, a small town about 50 km south of Denver.
The Toyota was traveling southbound when the driver lost control and went off the right shoulder, then it returned to the roadway and rolled onto the northbound lane, ejecting the driver, the CSP said.
It said that the Ford sedan was traveling northbound when the Toyota hit it head-on. The Toyota, after crashing into the Ford sedan, kept traveling southbound in the northbound lanes and struck the Ford pickup, causing minor damage.
The drivers of both the Toyota and the Ford sedan were pronounced dead at the scene. Three of five children in the sedan were also killed, and the two remaining were airlifted to a nearby medical facility, according to the CSP.
Authorities said the cause of the Toyota's loss of control remains under investigation, with the CSP's Vehicular Crimes Unit leading the probe. The Toyota had been reported stolen about an hour before the crash, said the CSP.
Highway 83 remained closed for several hours and reopened around midnight as investigators processed the scene. ■
