Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Idaho State Police say seven people died when a pickup truck and a tour van collided in eastern Idaho Thursday evening near Yellowstone National Park. Both vehicles caught fire after the crash, which remains under investigation.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A pickup truck collided with a tour van carrying a number of foreign travelers on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park, leaving seven people dead and eight others injured, Idaho State Police said.
The crash happened just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry's Lake State Park in eastern Idaho, police said in a news release. The state park is roughly 16 miles (26 kilometers) west of Yellowstone National Park.
Police have not said what exactly caused the wreck, but the Dodge Ram truck was traveling west while the Mercedes van was traveling east toward Yellowstone when it happened. Video from the scene showed clear weather conditions at the time.
Both vehicles caught fire, police said. The driver of the pickup and six people inside the Mercedes passenger van died. The truck driver was identified Friday as Isaih Moreno, 25, of Humble, Texas. Identifying the others will take some time, according to police.
Fremont County coroner, Brenda Dye, told The New York Times that she was waiting for DNA test results to identify the six others because the bodies were unrecognizable. She said all six were from outside the U.S. Two were from Italy.
China's Consulate General in San Francisco said that five Chinese citizens were killed in the accident and another eight were injured.
"The consulate expressed deep condolences for the dead and sincere sympathy to the injured and the families of those affected," according to the official Xinhua news agency. It was in contact with the family members and providing support, it said.
It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy between the figures given by Chinese officials and the Fremont County coroner.
The van was carrying a tour group of 14 people, and the surviving occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries, police spokesperson Aaron Snell said.
Two were flown to an Idaho Falls hospital and one was flown to a Bozeman, Montana, hospital, according to police. Their conditions were not released. The others were taken to area hospitals with injuries believed to be non-life-threatening, police said.
Rescue workers arrive to the scene after a deadly collision between a pickup truck and tour van near Henry's Lake State Park in eastern Idaho on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Roger Merrill