Mum and four children killed in horrific truck crash
A mother and her four children have died in a horror crash after a semi-trailer loaded with grain ran a stop sign, police say.
Jessica Noel, 32, was driving her Ford SUV near her Viola home in the US state of Kansas shortly before 5pm on Friday (local time) when she ploughed into the truck at an intersection.
The mother, alongside three of her children, died at the scene.
Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office identified the children as 10-year-old Anaiah Brady, four-year-old Jeffrey Thompson III and four-month-old Hank Thompson.
Their one-year-old sibling, Mack Thompson, sustained critical injuries and later died in hospital.
The 31-year-old man driving the semi-trailer wasn’t seriously injured. The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said he ran a stop sign as he headed east, US news outlet KWCH reported.
Captain Brad Hoch described the crash site as a “tragic scene”, while police said the impact of the SUV had split the trailer in two.
Ms Noel’s husband Jeff was alerted to the crash by a friend after he became concerned when his wife failed to return from grocery shopping, a GoFundMe set up by his niece said.
Arriving at the crash site, he was told his wife’s white Expedition was involved in the tragedy.
“My heart and my family are broken over the loss of my sister-in-law and my four nieces and nephews. There are just no words,” one of Jeff’s siblings told KSN in a statement.
The GoFundMe page, which will cover the costs of medical expenses and funerals, has so far raised more than $66,000.
“Anything you can give will be appreciated during this extremely difficult time of grief and unfathomable loss,” it read.
The truck driver has not yet faced any charges while police investigations continue.
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