Early Monday, law enforcement responded to the report of multiple traffic accidents in the north-bound lanes of the Kansas Turnpike, south of 95th Street South, to the south of Haysville. It happened at about 4:13 a.m., leaving two people are dead and two others injured.
A semi-tractor hit a deer, then swerved and struck the inside barrier wall; a second vehicle collided with that truck. A second semi tractor-trailer then pulled over on the shoulder, and a north-bound passenger car struck that big rig.
Two people from Minnesota in that passenger car died at the scene.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported there were a total of four crashes, adding that two other people involved were hospitalized. One of the injured was the 45-year-old woman from Houston driving the semi- that hit the deer; she was taken to Wichita's Wesley Medical Center for treatment of potentially serious injuries. The driver of the second semi-truck was also hospitalized.
Northbound traffic was closed for a time, and vehicles were detoured to U.S. Highway 81. The turnpike has since reopened.