Mini

PRATT, Kansas (AP) -- Freezing drizzle coated Kansas roads with ice Saturday, playing a role in a crash that left five people dead and another wreck that closed a section of Interstate 70 for hours.

The fatal crash occurred about 6 p.m. on U.S. 54 west of Pratt when an automobile hit a patch of ice and slid into the path of a tractor-trailer, according to Pratt County Sheriff Vernon Chinn.

The victims, all inside the automobile, were not immediately identified. The rig's driver was not hurt.

Both lanes of traffic on Interstate 70 near the Junction City exit were closed for more than four hours after two tractor-trailers collided and diesel fuel from one of the rigs spilled. Traffic was rerouted until the interstate reopened about 6:30 p.m.

By late Saturday, the Kansas Highway Patrol had received several reports of motorists sliding off roads, rolling their vehicles and hitting guardrails. Most of the accidents were minor.

Pratt is in the south-central part of the state; Junction City is in north-central Kansas.

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schsa

Because where I live we don't have anything to treat ice or snow, the counties around here literally shut down the roads. If you are out and on a bridge, you are stuck there until the weather warms up enough to melt the snow or ice (about 10 am most of the time). School buses don't run and people are told to keep off the roads. I don't understand why people think that they can drive when they are being told to stay off the roads because it is unsafe and why the county does not shut down roads to anything but emergency vehicles. Alot more people would be alive if they did.

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I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

kriskay

I just got home from exchanging my kids with the ex. It is snowing, and even with the plows it was extremely slippery. If I had realized how bad the roads were, I would never have let my kids in a car today. Luckily we are all home safely though. You would not believe the way people will still drive.They have no consideration for snow and ice.

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kriskay

justme23

This is where my aunt lives and they aren't answering their phone. Argh!

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An 'eye for an eye' leaves the whole world blind. -Mahatma Gandhi