Six hurt in head-on Highway 30 crash

UPDATE: Six people were hurt in a head-on collision Wednesday morning onHighway 30 near Van Horne.

Ashley Graves, 22, of Alburnett, was driving a van which crossed the center line and hit an eastbound car head-on around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday near 21st Avenue, investigators said.

“It looks like the van crossed the center line and hit the car head-on,” said Mike Ferguson, chief deputy with the Benton County sheriff's office.

Graves' seven-month old and three-year-old children and two-year-old niece were all passengers in the van, officials said.

The driver of the westbound car, Kevin Landis, 18, of Cedar Rapids, and his passenger Hilary Erickson, 18, also of Cedar Rapids were also injured in the crash.

One of the injured – a young girl, according to witnesses – was flown to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. The rest were transported to hospitals in Cedar Rapids, Ferguson said.

Ferguson declined to comment on their conditions, but witnesses said the girl flown to Iowa City and the driver of the car were going in and out of consciousness.

Chris Schrader, 43, of Monticello, was one of the first people on the scene. She said a woman was driving the van, and three young girls were inside. She said someone handed her two of the girls, as she ran up to the wreckage.

Schrader said she tried to comfort the crying girls, while firefighters cut the woman out of the van.

“She kept saying, ‘I hope it wasn't my fault, I hope it wasn't my fault,'” Schrader said. “I told her not to worry about that right now, because accidents happen every day. She said it was her first accident.”

Schrader said a the child who was taken to Iowa City was moaning in the back seat, but didn't appear to be bleeding. Shards of glass were scattered across the highway.

Names of those involved were not immediately released.

The roadway was closed for about 90 minutes until firefighters could clear the wreckage.