Four teenagers died Wednesday night when the SUV they were riding in on Colorado’s Eastern Plains was struck by a tractor trailer.
The youngest victim was 15 years old and the oldest was 16.
The crash happened in Prowers County at the intersection of U.S. 287 and Prowers County Road 196 near the town of Wiley. The Colorado State Patrol says the 16-year-old driver of the vehicle, a Ford Explorer carrying five people, ran a stop sign when it was struck by the northbound tractor trailer.
The four teens who were killed in the crash were identified as:
- A 16-year-old boy who was driving the SUV
- A 15-year-old girl who was a passenger
- A 15-year-old boy who was a passenger
- A 16-year-old boy who was a passenger
A 15-year-old boy who was also riding in the SUV was airlifted to a hospital in Colorado Springs after surviving the crash.
The names of the four victims were not immediately released.
The driver and a passenger in the tractor trailer survived the crash. However, the passenger, who was in the sleeper berth at the time of the crash, was seriously injured.
Drugs and alcohol are not suspected to have contributed to the crash, the State Patrol says.
The Wiley School District says classes have been canceled on Thursday as a result of the crash, which involved several of its students.
Wiley has a population of about 250 people. The town is about 160 miles southeast of Colorado Springs.
CORRECTION: This story was updated at 3:07 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021 to correct several errors from a source. The youngest victim in the crash was a 15-year-old girl. The SUV that was struck by a tractor trailer failed to stop at a stop sign when it was hit.