ALBANY, Ore.—Seven people were killed and multiple others hurt in a crash involving several vehicles Thursday on Interstate 5 in an agricultural area of western Oregon, police said.
Officers responded at about 2:05 p.m. to the crash involving two semi trucks and a passenger vehicle in the northbound lanes about 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of Albany, near the Santiam rest area, 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 at the scene, the newspaper said. A Life Flight helicopter left the scene at about 2:45 p.m.
Police and fire officials put a blue tarp on the wrecked van and placed a barrier near one of the trucks to block the view of the scene, according to the Democrat-Herald.
Joe Shipley (R), of Carlton, Ore., and another bystander watch emergency responders work at the scene of a multiple fatal crash along Interstate 5 in Albany, Ore., on May 18, 2023. (Alex Powers/Albany Democrat-Herald via AP)The van appeared to have been crushed between the trucks, a witness told the Statesman Journal.
“Judging by the damage, it looked like the van was sandwiched,” Adrian Gonzalez said. “It got hit very 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.
The northbound lanes of I-5 were reopened Thursday night after being closed due to the crash, state transportation officials said.
Albany lies between Salem and Eugene and is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Portland. I-5 is the main north-south interstate highway on the West Coast.