5 die in van, truck collision near Pittsburgh

updated 3:05 p.m. ET April 24, 2008

EIGHTY-FOUR, Pa. - A tractor-trailer collided with a van carrying residents from a group home for the mentally disabled Thursday, flipping the vehicle onto its side and crushing it against a building. Five people were killed and seven injured.

Witnesses told investigators the van stopped at an intersection and then pulled right in front of the tractor-trailer, Washington County Coroner Tim Warco said.

The crash happened about 10 a.m. in Somerset Township, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Warco said that, by mid-afternoon, two bodies had been removed from the van, and emergency crews were working to remove three more.

Seven people were taken to hospitals; several were reported in stable condition and Warco said the tractor-trailer driver was treated and released. The conditions of others was not available.

The van was believed to be carrying residents of a group home in Bentleyville. A man who answered the phone at the Mental Health Association of Washington County in Bentleyville said they were "going through a crisis situation and can't take this call."

The tractor-trailer was owned by Stocker Trucking Co. in Gnadenhutten, Ohio. A man who answered the phone at the company said, "At the moment we're still investigating this and I have no comment."

The van was pinned against a storage building owned by C.R. Augenstein Inc., a home gas and oil delivery business. Chuck Augenstein, the company's retired owner, was called to the scene by neighbors who heard the crash.

"There's an accident here at least twice a month," he said, adding that none had been fatal before Thursday.

More from msnbc.com Faces of Elkhart: Restaurateur reinvents himself More personal stories of struggle and recovery Electric cars poised to jolt auto industry Field Notes: Reporter recalls JFK Jr. tragedy Jews attacking Jews in the Holy City of Jerusalem Obama on health care policy: ‘No free lunch’

MORE FROM LIFE

Life Section Front

NYT: When is it OK for kids to run around naked? Calif. budget talks stall over school funding Hurricane preparations factor in recession   Man: Mountain lion no match for chainsaw Feds: HIV doesn't block barber, masseuse licenses Willis who? Sears Tower gets new name He did it! Teen finishes solo sail around world NY hospital warns of possible hepatitis risk He can wiggle fingers of his transplanted hands Boaters pushed to register locators Life Section Front   Add Life headlines to your news reader: