The driver of a truck that smashed into a parked van in Oregon killing seven people and injuring multiple other victims has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, DUI and other charges, according to police.
Officials say that the truck hit the van carrying 11 passengers on the side of the I-5 freeway in an agricultural area of the state before slamming into another truck parked in front of it, reported The Associated Press.
The crash on Thursday occurred in Marion County, which is situated south of Portland and is home to the state capital of Salem.
According to Oregon State Police, the cause of the crash on Thursday is under investigation and people have been urged to avoid the interstate if possible and expect delays if they do not.
The names of the victims of the crash have not yet been released.
According to The Oregonian, the crash Thursday is one of Oregon’s deadliest in recent years. A spokesperson for the state’s Department of Transportation said that a crash in Harney County in Eastern Oregon killed eight people in August of 2018.
A 1988 crash, meanwhile, which also took place close to the Marion County town of Albany, left seven people dead and 37 people injured.
Tens of thousands of people die in car crashes in the US as a whole each year. It is estimated that more than 40,000 people were killed in car crashes in both 2021 and 2022, with the number of car crash fatalities per year at their highest level since the mid-2000s.
