SUV collides with car in US, 4 killed

Huntsville (Tennessee), Oct. 26: A sport utility vehicle full of high school cheerleaders collided with an oncoming car in a fiery crash on a wet, foggy highway in rural north-eastern Tennessee, killing four people, authorities said .

The SUV hydroplaned on a curve on the two-lane highway late on Friday night, flipped on its side and crossed the centre lane, slamming into an oncoming Ford Taurus, Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman Laura McPherson said. The SUV erupted into flames.

Three of the girls in the SUV died. The surviving passenger was ejected from the vehicle and was in critical condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Centre in Knoxville. A passenger in the car, Jeweline Ledbetter King, 49, was killed. A 22-year-old pregnant woman, Miranda King, was sitting in the back seat and lost her unborn child from injuries in the crash.

The car’s driver, Malcum King, 22, and a 10-month-old child, Aiden Wilson, also were injured and taken to a hospital. The conditions of the car’s survivors were not immediately known.

Ms McPherson said investigators believe passengers were still trapped inside the second vehicle when the SUV caught fire a few feet away. —AP

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Gas leak causes blast in house

Mansfield (US), Oct. 26: A gas leak ignited an explosion that destroyed a home while its owner was out running errands.

Mansfield Fire Capt. George Rippey said the home exploded on Saturday. The force of the blast knocked out the windows and doors of a neighbouring home and threw debris across the street in the town.

—AP