By Beatrice Dupuy and Rebecca Boone, Associated Press
Boisse, Idaho (AP) – A van and a van with foreign visitors – including two people from Italy – collided on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park, killing seven people and eight others injured, the state of Idaho announced.
The accident occurred just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday on the US Highway 20 near Henry’s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho, police announced in a statement. The state park is approximately 16 miles west of Yellowstone National Park.
The police did not say exactly what caused the wreckage, but the Dodge Ram truck deployed west while the Mercedes van was heading east towards Yellowstone when it happened. The scene video showed clear weather conditions at the time.
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The rescuers arrive on the scene after a deadly collision between a van and a van near Henry’s Lake State Park in the east of Idaho on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Roger Merrill via AP)
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The rescuers arrive on the scene after a deadly collision between a van and a van near Henry’s Lake State Park in the east of Idaho on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Roger Merrill via AP)
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The two vehicles caught fire, police said. The driver of the van and six people inside the Mercedes passenger van died. The truck driver was identified on Friday as Isaih Moreno, 25, from Humble, in Texas. The identification of others will take some time, according to the police.
The Coroner of the County of Fremont, Brenda Dye, told the New York Times that she was waiting for the results of the DNA tests to identify the other six because the bodies were unrecognizable. She said the six came from outside the two United States came from Italy and we didn’t know where the others came from, she said.
The van bore a group of 14 people tours and the surviving occupants were taken to injured hospitals, said police spokesperson Aaron Snell.
According to police, two were transported by plane to a hospital in Idaho Falls and one was transported by plane to a hospital in Bozeman, Montana, at the hospital. Their conditions have not been released. The others were taken to hospitals in the region, injuries are not deadly, police said.
The accident remains under investigation.
Roger Merrill, 60, returned home when he saw flames engulfing the two vehicles while passers -by tried to take care of the survivors of the van on the side of the highway. Merrill said he often saw tourist vans on the highway.
“It is a very dangerous highway because it leads to the main entrance to Yellowstone National Park,” he said. “It’s extremely busy.”
Merrill captured the wreck video with smoke that covers the van. Due to the distant location, Merrill said that he was impatiently awaiting the help of the first stakeholders.
“It took a while to get help to arrive just because of the location,” he said.
The police said on Friday that an assistant of a sheriff of the county of Fremont arrived shortly after the accident and, with the help of passers -by, immediately helped the occupants of Van injured when he caught fire.
The state works with local officials to obtain “answers on what led to this terrible tragedy,” said the governor of Idaho Brad Little in an article on social networks.
The Idaho Transport Department had identified the highway for safety improvements to reduce the seriousness of accidents, but the project was still in the research and planning phase. According to the agency, an average of around 10,500 vehicles traveled this part of the highway in 2023.
Dupuy reported to New York. The journalist of Associated Press, Lisa Baumann, contributed to this story of Bellingham, Washington.
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