One person dies, two injured in fiery highway accident in Salina, trooper says

One person died and two others were injured in a two-vehicle accident early Wednesday morning on I-135 in Salina, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper reported.

Daisha J. Endsley of Salina was a passenger in a 2016 Ford F-150 when a 20-year-old Wichita woman, headed southbound in a 2000 Toyota Tundra, crossed the median and hit the F-150 on the shoulder of the northbound lanes, a KHP trooper wrote in the crash log.

The F-150 then caught fire. Endsley, 26, and the driver, a 41-year-old Salina man, made it out of the truck before it mostly burned to the ground, Trooper Ben Gardner said. It’s unclear how they got out.

A spokesperson from the Salina Police Department, which first responded to the accident, did not immediately respond to questions about what happened.

Endsley was taken to Salina Regional Health Center, where she was pronounced dead. The driver of the F-150 also was taken to the hospital with suspected serious injuries.

The Wichita woman driving the Tundra was taken to Wesley Medical Center with suspected serious injuries. She was listed in critical condition as of 4:20 p.m. Wednesday, a hospital spokesperson said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, Gardner said. It happened around 1:05 a.m. on I-135 just south of Water Well Road.

This story was originally published February 15, 2023 at 3:46 PM.