TOWNSEND, DELAWARE (7/6/2018) Four children and an adult, all from a New Jersey family, were killed in a wrong-way three-vehicle crash that closed Route 1 near Townsend for hours this afternoon, the Delaware State Police said. The surviving parent and three other people were injured.
Police said the crash was reported at 3:47 p.m. north of Pine Tree Road.
A southbound work-style pickup truck crossed the median and struck a northbound passenger car, then the pickup was struck by a northbound minivan, police said.
All of those killed were in the minivan, police said. A second adult from the family also was in the van and suffered injuries police said were serious but not life-threatening, and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
One person in the car and two in the pickup also were taken by ambulance to a local hospital, with injuries police described as not life-threatening.
A DelDOT traffic cam showed southbound traffic at a halt at 5:30 p.m. Southbound traffic was being diverted across the median and through an emergency access gate onto U.S. 13, and through another gate on the southbound side onto Harris Road. The southbound lanes of Route 1 were reopened at 5:50 p.m. for a time but then closed again, and later reopened.
Northbound lanes remained closed into the evening as police investigated and the wreckage was cleared, with traffic diverted onto U.S. 13. All lanes were later reopened.