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Six Die, Including Three Kids, in Kentucky Crash

Three children and three adults were killed in a two-car collision Thursday night outside Lexington, Kentucky.
Image:  Rescue personnel and police investigate a deadly two-vehicle crash on U.S. 27 in Nicholasville, Ky.
Rescue personnel and police investigate the deadly two-vehicle crash on U.S. 27 in Nicholasville, Ky., Thursday.Mark Cornelison / The Lexington Herald-Leader via AP

A family of five was among the victims in a two-car collision that killed six and injured four Thursday night outside Lexington, Kentucky.

Authorities in Nicholasville identified five of the dead as Steven Hibbard, 25, and Shaila Hibbard, 26, and their three children, James Tanner Phillips, 7, Alyssa Hibbard, 5, and Kylee Jo Hibbard, 3.

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“I’ve been doing this 16 years, and that’s the worst wreck I’ve seen,” Nicholasville Police Sgt. Scott Harvey told NBC News.

Image:  Rescue personnel and police investigate a deadly two-vehicle crash on U.S. 27 in Nicholasville, Ky.
Rescue personnel and police investigate the deadly two-vehicle crash on U.S. 27 in Nicholasville, Ky., Thursday.Mark Cornelison / The Lexington Herald-Leader via AP

Shortly after 9 p.m., the Hibbards’ station wagon careened across a grassy median that separated a four-lane divided highway, crashing head-on into a van carrying five people, police said.

The station wagon flipped and caught fire. The Hibbards died at the scene, Harvey said.

The van belonged to Refuge for Women, a Christian group that helps victims of sexual exploitation.

One person in the van also died at the scene, Harvey said. The others were taken to the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Harvey said that it was unclear what caused the crash, though it did not appear that alcohol was involved.

—Tim Stelloh