A total of nine people were taken to area hospitals after a chain-reaction crash involving six vehicles on the Kennedy Expressway early Sunday morning.
One of the victims, identified as a 23-year-old woman from Chicago, is listed in critical condition after the crash, according to a press release from Illinois State Police.
Authorities say that a semi-truck was traveling southbound on Interstate 90 at Harlem Avenue when the truck hit several vehicles, which were stopped due to traffic ahead.
The force of the truck’s impact with the first vehicle it hit, a 2016 Subaru, slammed the vehicle into four other cars, injuring eight other passengers and drivers.
A 23-year-old woman was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in critical condition, and two of her passengers, identified as a 24-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, were also taken to area hospitals.
The driver of the truck was issued a traffic citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision.
Traffic was diverted off the expressway for nearly seven hours before the roadway was re-opened at 7:15 a.m. Sunday morning. The investigation is ongoing, and police say that alcohol and drugs are not considered to be a contributing factor to the crash.
