JACKSON, Neb. (AP) — Two Council Bluffs residents, including a 9-year-old girl, have died in an early-morning crash in Nebraska. The Dakota County (Nebraska) Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called around 3:30 a.m. Thursday to a single-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 20 near Jackson, Nebraska. The vehicle went over an embankment and into a creek on the side of the highway.

The driver, 45-year-old Christopher Cox, was able to get out of the vehicle and climb to the road. Cox, who had been released from the hospital, told police that he swerved to avoid hitting a deer. Two passengers, 57-year-old Connie Fauzae and 9-year-old Espionza Lara, were pronounced dead at the scene.

A third passenger, 10-year-old Jose Lara, was taken by helicopter to a Sioux City hospital. He is on life support.