7 people are dead after a truck and tour van collided near Yellowstone, police say

BOISE Idaho AP A pickup truck and a tour van collided on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park leaving seven people dead and eight others injured Idaho State Police mentioned The crash happened just before p m Thursday near Henry s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho police announced in a press release The state park is roughly miles kilometers west of Yellowstone National Park Officials have not mentioned what led up to the crash Both vehicles caught fire the Idaho State Police commented in a press release The driver of the Dodge Ram pickup and six people inside the Mercedes visitor van died The van was carrying a tour group of people and the surviving occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries police spokesman Aaron Snell declared Air ambulances and emergency paramedics responded to the collision which remains under analysis The Fremont County coroner s office had not distributed the names of those killed as of Friday morning The Idaho State Police disclosed personnel were still working on notifying family members of those killed and injured so the agency was not yet releasing the names ages hometowns or nationalities of the people involved Roger Merrill was driving home when he saw the flames engulfing the two vehicles as bystanders tried to care for survivors from the van on the side of the highway Merrill mentioned he often sees tourist vans on the highway that leads to Yellowstone National Park It is a very dangerous highway because it leads to the main entrance of Yellowstone National Park he stated It s extremely busy Merrill captured video of the wreckage with smoke blanketing the van Due to the remote location Merrill stated he anxiously awaited the help of first responders It took an unnervingly long time for help to arrive just because of the location he announced The Idaho Transportation Department has identified the highway for safety improvements designed to reduce the severity of crashes but the project is still in the research and planning phase That portion of the highway had an average of about vehicles traveling it daily in according to the agency