Kansas teen dies in fiery collision between van and semi, official says

A 17-year-old Kansas boy died Thursday in a fiery collision with a semi in Mitchell County, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper said.

Austin Cearyn Jablonski of Lincoln died at the scene of the accident, which was reported at 11:49 a.m. on K-14. The semi driver was not hurt. Both vehicles caught fire after Jablonski “for unknown reasons” crossed into oncoming traffic on the two-lane highway, a trooper wrote in the crash report.

The trooper wrote that Jablonski was eastbound in a rural area of K-14, just south of V Road, when he lost control and went into the westbound lane. K-14 is mostly north and south but curves northeast and southwest in the area the accident was reported.

The 29-year-old Ellinwood man driving a 2021 Kenworth and pulling a trailer then hit the teen driving a 2003 Chrysler Town and Country van.

“Both vehicles caught on fire,” the trooper wrote.