Wreck occurred on K-140 near Bavaria about 8 a.m. Monday
BAVARIA — A 20-year-old Ellsworth man and a 24-year-old McPherson man were killed Monday morning when the car they were traveling in crossed the center line on Kansas Highway 140 east of Bavaria and collided with two other vehicles.
Andrew L. Wolf, of Ellsworth, the driver of the car, and passenger Joshua B. Gepner, of McPherson, both died of injuries suffered in the crash shortly after 8 a.m., according to a Kansas Highway Patrol report.
Wolf’s car was headed west on K-140, and a sport utility vehicle driven by Jolene A. Goddard, 40, of Brookville, and a pickup truck driven by Joshua L. Krone, 34, of Brookville, was eastbound.
For an unknown reason, Wolf’s car crossed the center line into the eastbound lane and collided with the pickup, causing Wolf’s car to slide backward toward the eastbound lane and into the south ditch, according to the patrol report.
Goddard’s vehicle struck the car in the eastbound lane. All three vehicles came to rest in the south ditch, according to the report.
Driver seriously injured
Goddard was transported to Salina Regional Health Center, where she was in serious condition Monday afternoon, according to a hospital spokesman.
Krone and a 7-year-old boy who was a passenger in his pickup were treated at the scene and did not require transport, said KHP trooper Ben Gardner. The boy was in a booster seat, according to the report.
Wolf and Krone were wearing seat belts, and Goddard and Gepner were not wearing seat belts, according to the patrol report.
The KHP Critical Highway Accident Response Team responded to the crash site, and traffic was rerouted around the area for more than four hours during the crash investigation.
Weather not a factor
A KHP aircraft also took aerial photos of the crash site.
Gardner said weather and road conditions were not believed to be contributing factors in the crash.
He said troopers would continue to investigate to see if the cause of the collision could be determined. He said in some vehicles, substantial information can be retrieved from the data box that controls operation of air bags, and that information can be used to “better paint a picture of what happened.”
He said sometimes the reason a vehicle crosses into oncoming traffic cannot be determined.
“The reality is sometimes we can’t provide answers as quickly as society or the public want,” he said.