FRANKLIN COUNTY, Kan. — Scattered debris and burned brush are all that remained Monday following a head-on crash Sunday that killed eight people in Franklin County, Kansas.
Four of the victims in the fatal wreck Sunday on U.S. 169 near Virginia Road in Franklin County, Kansas, were from the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area.
Two were identified as high school students, and two were identified as adults.
“I didn’t see or hear anything until I turned around from locking the gate and saw a giant cloud of smoke. Drove down the road, got to the stop sign down there, and just saw a line of cars,” Blane Siebert, who lives near the site of the crash, said.
KHP said two cars crashed head-on and caught on fire.
“Of first responders, I’d probably say there was easily 20 plus police officers, fire trucks, ambulances, there was a lot,” Siebert said. “The highway shut down basically from the bottom of this hill, up to the top, more or less.”
8 people are dead and 1 person is injured after a head on collision in Franklin Co, KS, according to KHP @KSHB41 pic.twitter.com/1putleuxOg
— Elyse Schoenig (@ElyseSchoenig) May 5, 2025
Crews from all over the area rushed to help. Now, communities near and far are mourning. Siebert said he empathizes with this tragedy even more as a parent himself.
"I can see it from a parental light, it's just really sad. You grow up and you hear about teenagers getting in car wrecks, but I guess it just hits different as a parent,” he said.
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