MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas-Five people have been killed in an accident in Mount Pleasant involving multiple vehicles.
Four people in a minivan, three children and their mother, were killed, according to Texas Department of Public Safety officials. The driver of an 18-wheeler was also killed.
Names of the victims had not been released as of late Friday.
Four other people were hospitalized for treatment of injuries from the accident.
The accident occurred between 8:30 and 9 a.m. at U.S. Highway 271/Talco Road, Exit 162 on Interstate 30 in Mount Pleasant.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Sylvia Jennings said the fatal wreck happened during a traffic jam caused by a different wreck an hour earlier.
At about 7:15 a.m., a single-vehicle wreck occurred in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 30 at mile marker 165, Jennings said. A truck towing a trailer lost control, rolled over and was blocking both lanes, Jennings said. Only minor injuries were reported.
Eastbound traffic was backed up because of that wreck.
About an hour later, Jennings said an 18-wheeler failed to stop for an unknown reason and hit the back of a minivan that had stopped in the traffic jam.
The driver of that 18-wheeler, a woman with a Tennessee driver's license, was killed in the wreck, Jennings said.
Four people inside the van were declared dead at the scene three children killed younger than 10 and their mother, DPS officials said. The father was airlifted to the hospital in Tyler and is in intensive care. Officials have not identified the family that was riding in the minivan.
Traffic was diverted in the area, and that portion of I-30 in the eastbound lanes was shut down for several hours.
One eastbound lane had reopened as of 2 p.m. Friday. The other eastbound lanes of I-30 at mile marker 165 were expected to be shut down for much of the day.