LITTLETON — Two missionaries from Colorado Springs on their way to a church in the foothills west of Denver were killed Sunday morning when the driver of a sport utility vehicle apparently had a medical emergency and his SUV collided with the minivan they were riding in.
Two women — among six people in the minivan — were killed when it rolled several times off C-470 near Santa Fe Drive about 10:15 a.m. after it was hit by a Jeep Grand Cherokee, according to Littleton police.
The van’s occupants were connected to Mission Training International, a Palmer Lake center that prepares missionaries for overseas duty, the organization confirmed Sunday night.
The group would not identify the victims.
In a statement, administrator Dan Smith said, “Just by their presence here at MTI’s training, we know they were willing to give of their lives so that others would know the forgiveness and love of Jesus … so that they could live in God’s presence forever.”
He asked for prayers “for the friends and family members who will likely be overwhelmed by this when they find out.”
Littleton Police Sgt. Mike Eyman said Sunday evening that the process of contacting next of kin had only begun, and authorities may not identify those involved until today.
The surviving passengers in both vehicles were taken to area hospitals.
A toddler, believed to be about 18 months old, was airlifted from Littleton Adventist Hospital to Children’s Hospital in Aurora with a severe brain injury. The boy’s parents were among the survivors in the van, Eyman said.
The parents were taken to Swedish Hospital, where the boy’s mother was listed in critical condition Sunday night and his father was in intensive care but in stable condition, 9News reported. The other victim in the van was listed in critical condition at Littleton Adventist Hospital.
The missionaries were planning to leave soon for a trip overseas, Eyman said.
The driver of the Jeep and his wife had non-life-threatening injuries. The woman told police her husband had a medical emergency that led to the crash.
Whether the 67-year-old driver of the Cherokee will be charged in the accident will be the decision of the district attorney’s office, but a medical emergency might prove a mitigating circumstance, Eyman said.
The wreck closed C-470 for about seven hours as emergency workers tried to remove the bodies from the van and preserve evidence before moving the van, which came to rest on its roof on the shoulder. The van was under a yellow tarp as crews worked through the day Sunday. The road reopened about 5 p.m.
“We wanted to make sure we had 90 percent of it looked at before we started moving anything,” Eyman said.
Both vehicles were westbound on C-470 when the crash occurred, Eyman said.
“He came sideways and broadsided him, and the van flipped,” Eyman said of the Jeep driver.
The Jeep veered off C-470 and came to a stop on a nearby service road with minor damage to its left front fender.
The crash was witnessed by a number of other motorists, including two off-duty paramedics who stopped to help, Eyman said.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
