A motor vehicle accident in Columbiana County, Ohio took three lives and sent eight other people to the hospital. The accident happened in Wayne Township just before 11 a.m. on Sunday morning.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a 31-year-old woman and her 9-month-old son were travelling along Ohio State Route 518 when she crossed slightly over the center line and hit a 2006 Chevy Equinox head on.
The woman and her 9-month-old son, both of whom were restrained by a seat-belt and rear-facing car seat, respectively, were taken to the Salem Regional Medical Center. Both sustained non-life-threatening injuries, but the mother was eventually transferred to St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Their conditions have not yet been updated.
The Chevy Equinox held nine people at the time of the accident. The driver, a 39-year-old man, and his wife, a 27-year-old woman, both from Calcutta, Ohio, were killed in the accident. A little girl, an 11-year-old from Minerva, Ohio, was also killed as a result of being thrown from the vehicle.
A police report says that neither the husband nor the wife were wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident. The little girl who died was not wearing a seat belt either. In fact, only three children–ages nine months, one year, and four years–were placed in a child safety seat. Two other eleven-year-olds and a six-year-old, who was sitting on another child's lap, were seriously injured in the accident.
One of the 11-year-old girls, not wearing a seat belt, was taken to Akron Children's Hospital. Another 11-year-old girl, also not wearing a seat belt, was taken to Aultman Hospital in Canton. A 6-year-old girl who was sitting on the lap of the first 11-year-old girl and was also not wearing a seat belt, was taken to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. The 4-year-old, 1-year-old, and 9-month-old were also all taken to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, but it is reported that they were restrained in some type of child safety seat.
Source: WFMJ, "Calcutta couple and Minerva child die in crash" 19 January 2014