2 people killed in Vernon County Accident

Two drivers were killed and three passengers in one vehicle were taken to a Joplin hospital after a two-vehicle, head-on collision Sunday afternoon on I-49 one mile North of Sheldon. 

The Missouri Highway Patrol says the accident happened about 1:30 p.m. when a 1999 Buick Century, driven by 92-year-old Dorothy T. Cross, Sheldon,Missouri was headed North in the South-bound lanes of I-49 and collided head-on with a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis driven by 57-year-old Douglas Young, Mullen, Nebraska. 

Trooper Jason Krehbiel says the drivers were pronounced dead at the scene by Vernon County deputy coroner Thomas Hieber. 

Three passengers in the Mercury Grand Marquis -- 56-year-old Marie Young, 15-year-old Daniel Young and 21-year-old Tricia Young, all of Mullen, Nebraska, were taken to Freeman-West Hospital with serious injuries.