LITTLETON — Two missionaries from Colorado Springs on their way to a church in the foothills west of Denver were killed this morning when the driver of another vehicle apparently had a medical emergency and collided with the minivan they were riding in.
Two women — out of six people in the minivan — were killed when it rolled several times off C-470 near Sante 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 Monday.
The surviving passengers in both vehicles were taken to area hospitals.
An infant, 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.
No one was ejected in the rollover.
The missionaries were soon to leave for a trip overseas, Eyman said.
Whether the 67-year-old driver of the vehicle 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 vehicle, 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.
The driver of the Jeep and his wife had non-life-threatening injuries. The wife told police her husband had a medical emergency — possibly a heart attack — that led to the crash.
Both vehicles were westbound on C-470 when the crash occurred, Eyman said.
“He came sideways and broadsided him, and the van flipped” about two times, Eyman said.
The Jeep veered off C-470 and came to a stop on a nearby service road with only 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
