By Associated Press - Monday, May 20, 2013

VANDALIA, Ill. (AP) — A van veered off a southern Illinois highway and overturned several times Monday, killing five people and sending six others to hospitals, authorities said.

Illinois State Police Sgt. Mark Zimmerman said five people died at the scene of the accident, which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. on Interstate 70 near Vandalia, about 70 miles east of St. Louis. Many of the victims were ejected from the 15-passenger van, Sgt. Zimmerman said.

Details about what caused the crash or who owned the white 2002 Dodge van, which had no decals or displayed markings, were not immediately available.

Four survivors were listed in fair condition as Vandalia’s Fayette County Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Lyn Gartke said. Two of those patients were transferred to a Springfield hospital and another to a St. Louis-area one, she said. The two other survivors were taken to Greenville Regional Hospital, where their medical status wasn’t immediately available.

Both eastbound lanes of the freeway were closed as crews worked to clear the wreckage.

State police said they have assigned two crash-reconstruction officers to the investigation.

Messages left by The Associated Press with Fayette County Coroner Bruce Bowen weren’t returned, and calls to the county’s sheriff’s department were directed to state police.

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