At least 6 killed in 4 weekend crashes across Minnesota

It was a deadly weekend on Minnesota roads, with at least six people killed in four separate crashes across the state.

The State Patrol reported that two women died Saturday afternoon along Interstate 94 at Highway 241 in St. Michael, northwest of the Twin Cities. Their eastbound Nissan SUV was hit by two tires that broke off a semi traveling west on the freeway just before 5 p.m.

The Patrol said the driver of the SUV — Viengkhone Nguyen, 44, of Brooklyn Park — and one of the passengers — Lea Khamphachanh, 43, of St. Cloud — died at the scene.

Three other passengers in the SUV were transported to a hospital.

Elsewhere in Minnesota over the weekend:

• Both drivers died when a car and a Mack truck collided at an intersection in Renville County on Saturday morning. The West Central Tribune reports it happened at the corner of county roads 4 and 5, south of Bird Island.

• A woman died in a crash Saturday night along State Highway 169 northeast of Virginia. The Patrol said traffic was backed up from an earlier incident when a northbound Chevrolet Impala struck the back of a stopped pickup truck. A passenger in the Impala — identified as 61-year-old Cathy Marjorie Johnson of Tower — died at the scene. Two other people in the car, and three people in the truck, were taken to a hospital in Virginia.

• A motorcycle rider died Sunday afternoon after going off the road along State Highway 60 between West Albany and Wabasha in Wabasha County. The Patrol identified the rider as 36-year-old Jeffrey Patrick Nelson of Lakeville.

At last report, state traffic safety officials said 312 traffic fatalities had been reported in Minnesota so far in 2023. At the same point last year, the state had seen 366 traffic deaths.

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