(Creston, Iowa) – A collision east of Creston Friday night claimed the lives of two people from Nebraska. The Iowa State Patrol this (Saturday) afternoon, said the accident happened at around 7-p.m. on Highway 34 at Iris Avenue, as a 2008 Ford Explorer was eastbound on Highway 34. A 1996 Peterbilt semi, which was stopped at the posted sign sign on Iris Avenue, proceeded to turn left onto Highway 34. The SUV collided with the grain hopper trailer the semi was pulling.

The driver of the SUV, 17-year-old Izabella M. Martinez, and a front seat passenger in the vehicle, 18-year-old Alex Conner Mauseth, both of Omaha, died at the scene. A third passenger in the Explorer, 14-year-old Xavier Martinez, of Omaha, was injured and transported to the hospital by Creston EMS. Both front seat occupants were wearing their seat belts. The 14-year-old was unrestrained.

The driver of the semi, 63-year-old Kelly Lee Jones, of Creston, was not injured. The deaths in Union County, bring to seven, the number of people who died in crashes, Friday. Four people died in a crash Friday night in Cedar Rapids, and a man from Osceola died Friday afternoon in a crash west of Osceola.