At least 4 dead, 10 injured in single-vehicle van wreck in Wise County, officials say
Four people were killed and 10 injured when a passenger van overturned in Wise County on Wednesday morning, officials said.
Chief Randall Preuninger, a spokesperson for Wise County EMS, said in a news release that several people were ejected from the van. Three people were already dead when EMS arrived. Three others were in critical condition, six in serious condition and two other sustained non-serious injuries.
A fourth person later died at a local hospital, according to a Department of Public Safety news release.
The Chevy Express 3500 van left the highway and apparently rolled several times, Preuninger said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Sgt. Josue De La Cerda, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, confirmed that the van did not belong to a school or church. No information was immediately available about who owned the van. De La Cerda said the van came from Florida but investigators don’t yet know where it was going.
The ages of the victims were not immediately available, but De La Cerda said no children were involved.
The crash took place near Alvord on U.S. 287 close to the Farm Road 1655 exit around 8 a.m. DPS officials said the van was headed northbound and started to veer into the median. The driver overcorrected, causing the vehicle to skid and roll over multiple times.
Police from the Alvord Independent School District were among the first to arrive at the scene. Police Chief Tony Vo confirmed to the Wise County Messenger that no students or staff from the district were involved in the wreck. The occupants of the van don’t appear to be from the area, he said.
Several medical helicopters helped transport patients from the scene of what authorities called a “mass casualty incident.”
Only one of the 14 people in the van was wearing a seat belt, and that person was able to walk away from the accident, according to DPS. The driver was killed in the crash.
Authorities said the white van, designed to hold 15 passengers, was headed north on U.S. 287.
All lanes of U.S. 287 at FM 1655 were reopened after being shut down for several hours Wednesday morning, Texas Department of Transportation officials said on X around 12:15 p.m.
Officials will publicly identify those who died in the crash pending notification of next of kin.
This story was originally published August 28, 2024 at 10:52 AM.
