Speeding car being chased by Ohio troopers strikes van, killing 2

FREEMONT, Ohio - Two occupants of a minivan were killed Thursday night after a car travelling more than 200 kilometres an hour and being chased by state troopers struck the vehicle and burst into flames in northwest Ohio, the State Highway Patrol said.

The crash happened around 7: 15 p.m. near Fremont, 65 kilometres southeast of Toledo. The 24-year-old man who allegedly was driving the speeding vehicle was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Highway Patrol Lt. Brett Gockstetter told AP Radio that the driver of the car was travelling at a high rate of speed and weaving in and out of traffic. He said the car crashed into the back of the van, which had two adults from Toledo in it, and that both vehicles caught fire.

"The driver of the passenger car was able to exit the vehicle on his own accord," he said. The two others could not.

WTOL-TV reported that the speeding vehicle was travelling between 200 and 240 km/h and hit at least three other vehicles over the course of 27 kilometres.

Josh Pickett of Toledo told the Toledo Blade that he was headed home from Thanksgiving dinner with relatives in Cleveland when the speeding driver passed him, followed about a minute later by a state police cruiser.

"I was going 76 (mph), and the guy passes me like I was standing still," Pickett said.

He said within a few minutes traffic suddenly stopped "and I saw really big flames."

Ty Mahaffey of Toledo told the Blade a car zoomed by him "at an enormously high rate of speed. ... I have never seen a passenger car going so fast."

The Toledo resident said he was going around 130 km/h "and when he passed me it was like I was going in reverse." He said afterward he had to pull over briefly to collect himself.

The turnpike's westbound lanes were expected to be closed until early Friday.