http://www.koco.com/news/10745368/detail.html

7 Killed In I-40 Crash Near Elk City

POSTED: 7:21 am CST January 14, 2007
UPDATED: 9:09 am CST January 14, 2007

ELK CITY, Okla. -- Seven people died in a fatal car crash in western Oklahoma early Sunday, troopers confirmed.

Officials said the crash happened five miles east of Elk City along Interstate 40. The crash involved a van carrying 12 people and a semi truck, troopers said.

The eastbound van apparently hit a slick spot on the road about 3:50 a.m., slid through the center median and struck a westbound tractor-trailer, OHP trooper Kera Philippi said. Five of the van's occupants were taken to a nearby hospital with varying levels of injury, Philippi said.

The identities of the victims have not been released, but Philippi said all the van's occupants were residents of Mexico.

"The medical examiner has made positive identification of some of them, but they're having to use interpreters to locate next of kin," Philippi said.