Four killed in construction-zone crash in northeast Minnesota

Four people — including two children — died Wednesday when a semi crashed into stopped vehicles in a construction zone along a northeast Minnesota highway.

It happened just before 3 p.m. along U.S. Highway 2 between Brookston and Floodwood, about 30 miles west of Duluth.

Authorities said a semi and three SUVs were stopped in traffic due to construction, when they were hit by another semi traveling at highway speed.

The people who died were all in one of the SUVs that was hit, and all were from the community of Blackduck. The Patrol identified them as 65-year-old Vincent Louis Dow, who was driving the Honda Pilot, and three passengers: 66-year-old Bonnie Mae Dow, 9-year-old Hope Mae Oakgrove and 9-year-old Charlotte White.

The Patrol said two people in the other vehicles that were hit suffered non-life-threatening injuries, as did the driver of the semi that hit them — identified as a 63-year-old man from Grand Rapids.

The Patrol on Thursday morning called it an “active investigation.”

A resurfacing project along that stretch of U.S. Highway 2 started on Monday. The Minnesota Department of Transportation had said drivers in the area could expect lane closures, flaggers and pilot cars while the work was underway.

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