INDIANAPOLIS – The driver of a minivan involved in a crash that killed seven members of an extended Ecuadoran family on their way to a funeral remained in critical condition Saturday, and officials upgraded the condition of one of two other people hospitalized with injuries.
Police said Manuel Chimborazo, 30, was driving the minivan packed with 10 people traveling to a funeral Thursday night when it hit a deer and then was crushed from behind by a semi-trailer. South Bend Memorial Hospital continued to list Chimborazo in critical condition.
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Another victim, Maria Antonia Yupa, 36, was upgraded to fair condition at South Bend after being listed as serious Friday.
There was no update released for Cayetano Quizhpe, 28, who Friday was in stable condition at Elkhart General Hospital.
State police Sgt. Trent Smith said there was no new information to be released Saturday about the crash on the Indiana Toll Road about 10 miles east of South Bend. Three adults and four children were killed, including Quizphe’s 6-weesk-old son.
The crash occurred on a stretch of road where 20 other people were killed in four accidents between August 2005 and April 2007, including eight people who died when a semi-trailer plowed into stopped traffic near a construction zone.
The group had been traveling from Chicago to the East Coast for a funeral, and police said none of the minivan’s occupants were wearing seatbelts. Smith said the infant was in a car seat but had not been buckled in.
The minivan was heading east on the toll road about 8 p.m. Thursday when it hit a deer and either stopped or slowed down, authorities said. The semitrailer was going about 65 mph when it hit the van in the highway’s eastbound lanes shortly after that.
The driver of the semi-trailer — Jesse Donovan, 24, of Johnston, R.I. — was treated for minor injuries. Police said preliminary tests indicated that he had not been drinking alcohol.
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