13 people ejected in van crash on I-90

A van carrying 15 people lost control on an icy stretch of Interstate 90 early Thursday near Worthington, Minn. and rolled into the median, leaving several people with serious injuries.

The Minnesota State Patrol said 13 of the occupants were ejected from the van, and three people had to be airlifted to a hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The crash remains under investigation, but State Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske said officials suspect most of the passengers were not wearing seat belts.

"We believe that seat-belt use by all occupants in the van would have certainly had a different result," he said.

The driver was identified as 29-year-old Altayeb Arbab-Azzein of Sioux Falls. The van had South Dakota license plates.

The State Patrol did not have updated information about the passengers' conditions, but the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported that six people remained hospitalized.

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