Teens killed in Guntersville rollover crash
By WAFF.com Staff
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Three Marshall County teenagers were killed in a two-vehicle rollover wreck on Highway 431 near Guntersville Sunday afternoon. Six other passengers were injured.
The wreck happened on the section of Highway 431 north of Guntersville just before 3 p.m. A pickup truck carrying nine passengers, including several children, flipped on the side of the highway. Two people in the other car involved in the wreck were not injured.
The driver of the truck, 19-year-old John Ryan Lawson, of Albertville, was killed in the crash. A passenger in the bed of the truck, 19-year-old Blake Anthony Keener from Albertville, was also killed. A 13-year-old passenger in the cab of the truck died of her injuries, but the coroner is not releasing her name.
Multiple emergency response vehicles, police officials, State Troopers and medical helicopters responded to the scene.
Of the passengers in the pickup, four were riding in the cab, five in the bed of the truck. When the truck flipped, the passengers in the bed were thrown out. The truck landed in a ditch and caught fire. Witnesses said the group had been swimming.
State Troopers have confirmed three fatalities. Seven people were taken to Huntsville Hospital: five in serious condition, two listed in grave condition. One of the latter died.
A stretch of Highway 431, between Cathedral Caverns Highway and Highway 79, remained closed until about 6 p.m. when it was reopened to traffic.
An exact cause has not been determined.