Grandmother, baby killed, others injured in ‘mass casualty incident’ on Kansas Turnpike

An infant and his grandmother were killed, and several other people injured, when the van they were in was hit by a semi driver Thursday morning on the Kansas Turnpike near Mulvane, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The 2020 Chevrolet Express van and its trailer overturned at 12:01 a.m. on I-35 about 1.5 miles south of the Kansas Star Casino exit.

A 63-year-old Rose Hill man driving a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee then struck the van. Three people were in that vehicle; one had injuries, according to KHP Lt. Michael Conely.

In addition to the two people who died in the van, six people had serious injuries. There were nine people in the van; eight are from Minnesota.

Some of the people in the van were family; investigators are still working to determine the relationship of the others, Conely said around 10 a.m. He said they were headed to Mexico.

Ernestina Eumana-Alvarez, 58, and Christian Gutierrez, an infant boy, died at the scene. Both are from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Conely said the woman is the boy’s grandmother.

The other people in the van include a 1-year-old boy; 27-year-old woman; 47-year-old man; the 55-year-old man driving; 63-year-old man; 64-year-old woman and 67-year-old woman.

They all were taken to Wesley Medical Center with suspected serious injuries, expect for the 1-year-old who had suspected minor injuries, a trooper wrote on the KHP crash log.

He said the driver got out of the vehicle after the wreck and tried to stop oncoming traffic before the driver of the Jeep hit the van. The other occupants in that vehicle included a 61-year-old Oklahoma man and a 23-year-old Rose Hill man.

The Oklahoma man was taken to a hospital with suspected minor injuries.

It was not immediately clear what caused the driver of the semi to hit the van, Conely said. That driver’s information was not immediately posted in the KHP crash log.

Debris covered the turnpike after the accident, closing down southbound traffic. The trailer was filled with personal belongings, Conely said.

At least part of the road was reopened around 7:30 a.m.

Mulvane Fire Rescue, which responded to the call, said it was a “mass casualty incident” because there were more patients than EMS could handle at that time.