ROCHESTER — Two people were killed when a passenger car and a semi-truck collided head-on on Interstate 5 in south Thurston County.
The Washington State Patrol says the accident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. Friday when a southbound Subaru swerved to avoid a Volkswagen truck moving into its lane. The Subaru lost control and went across the median, under the cable barrier and into the northbound lanes.
The car struck a northbound Freightliner semi-truck head-on.
The car’s female driver and a male passenger were killed. Two children in the car — a 10-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy — were injured and were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
The identities of the dead and injured were not immediately available.
The truck drivers were not injured. The are identified as Blake W. McDonald, 54, of Vancouver, B.C., in the Freightliner, and Karl F. Carillo, 41, of Lebanon, Ore., in the Volkswagen.
The state Department of Transportation says the accident backed up traffic in both directions for several hours — as much as 13 miles in the southbound lanes.
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