(This story was updated to add new information.)
A two-vehicle crash involving a sedan and an SUV in Peoria on Thursday night led to the deaths of two people, along with multiple injuries.
The driver of the midsized sedan, Donaciano Jimenez Hernandez, 21, of Peoria was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:03 p.m. Thursday, according to Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood. Hernandez suffered “multiple detrimental blunt force trauma injuries that were inconsistent with life,” the coroner said in a Facebook statement.
Hernandez was restrained in the vehicle at the time of the accident, and toxicology is pending per Illinois law.
The front-seat passenger of the same vehicle, Maria Del Rosario Cortes Salinas, 25, was pronounced dead at 9:30 a.m. Friday, due to blunt-force trauma injuries, according to Harwood. Salinas was also restrained in the vehicle, and toxicology is pending.
According to the Peoria Fire Department, at 9:19 p.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to the intersection of North Allen Road and West Altorfer Drive after receiving a report of an accident with an entrapment. When they arrived on scene, they found that a midsized sedan and an SUV had collided head-on in the southbound lane on Allen Road at the intersection, with both vehicles sustaining major front-end damage.
After the crash, the sedan had spun off the road, with one front-seat passenger in the driver’s seat who was pronounced dead at the scene and another passenger in the back who had to be extricated with the “jaws of life.” Bystanders who witnessed the accident were able to pull an infant from the backseat before firefighters and other first responders arrived.
The SUV remained on the street facing southbound with the driver still inside. Firefighters were able to pull them from the vehicle and transfer them to AMT along with the rear passenger from the sedan.
The SUV driver and sedan passenger were transported to a hospital with critical injuries along with the infant, who had sustained minor injuries.
For over an hour after the accident, firefighters remained on scene to help with extricating the driver from the sedan and working alongside the Peoria County Coroner’s Office.
The fire department said the cause of the crash was still under investigation.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Two people killed in head-on accident in Peoria have been identified
Reporting by Zach Roth, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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