Pickup crashes into river; 2 killed, 2 injured

COLUMBUS » A pickup truck went out of control on an icy interstate onramp and plunged into an Ohio river, killing two youths and injuring two other people, authorities said.

The truck was on the I-670 eastbound onramp shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday when it went out of control on a patch of ice, struck and went over a concrete barrier and slid down an embankment into the Scioto River, Columbus police said.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the vehicle came to rest upside down in the river, with its wheels and undercarriage above the fractured ice and the passenger compartment below water.

Columbus police said the 17-year-old Blacklick youth driving was taken to Ohio Health Grant Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a little over an hour later. A 13-yearold youth, also from Blacklick, was pronounced dead a few minutes later at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, police said

A 13-year-old youth and a 64-year-old man were listed in stable condition at hospitals, police said. Officials said all of the victims were family members. The names of the two juveniles killed weren’t immediately released.

Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin told the Columbus Dispatch that police officers who arrived first pulled one of the victims out and began CPR before firefighters arrived and took over the rescue operation.

Martin said the steep, brush-covered embankment made it difficult for crews to get the victims up from the riverbank on backboards for transport to hospitals.