(CNN) — A trailer came unhitched from a tractor-trailer truck near Syracuse, New York, on Wednesday, striking an approaching minivan and killing seven people, authorities said.
The minivan was carrying eight people as it passed through the town of Truxton on a rural highway Wednesday evening, said Cortland County Cortland County Sheriff’s Department Captain Mark Helms.
The tractor-trailer truck, with two people on board, was traveling in the opposite direction.
Authorities do not know what caused the trailer to come loose. But Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Derksen told CNN affiliate YNN that weather was not believed to be a factor.
The impact killed seven of the eight people in the minivan. The eighth was hospitalized, but the extent of the injuries wasn’t immediately known, Helms said.
No one on board the truck was hurt.
