OSP: 5 children among 8 killed in SE Oregon crash

(Update;OSP identifies victims, including 5 children; Tacoma family on end-of-summer trip)

Oregon State Police on Wednesday identified the eight people killed in a head-on collision of two SUVs on a southeast Oregon highway — five of them children 11 or younger.

A preliminary investigation found that Mark Robert Rundell, 48, of Prairie City,, was heading west on state Highway 78 southeast of Burns in Harney County at the wheel of a white 1999 Toyota 4Runner when he veered into the oncoming lane and collided with a silver 2016 Toyota 4Runner driven by Erica Carter Boquet, 29, of Tacoma, Washington, OSP Captain Tim Fox said.

Boquet and six passengers all died at the scene, as did Rundell, Fox said.

The passengers in Boquet’s SUV were identified Tuesday as Kyla Marie Brown, 28, of Olympia, Wash.; Isabella Earlene Boquet, 11, of Tacoma; Elisabeth Ann Boquet, 8, of Tacoma; Tytis Michael Boquet, 6, of Tacoma; Arianna Marie Brown, 10, of Olympia; and Xavier King Johnson, 2, of Olympia.

A family member told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the seven in the 2016 SUV were relatives heading to Las Vegas on an end-of-summer trip.

Troopers and medics rushed to the scene of the crash around 10 a.m. Monday on state Highway 78 near milepost 30, south of Crane, Fox said.

OSP was assisted at the scene by the Harney County Sheriff’s Office, Hines Police Department, Harney County District Ambulance, Burns Fire Department, the Range Land Fire Protection Association and ODOT, the captain said.

Fox said it’s one of Oregon’s worst single crashes on record, in terms of fatalities.

In early August 1988, seven people were killed and 37 were injured in a 23-vehicle pileup on Interstate 5 as smoke from a field burn blew across the highway south of Albany.

In late December 2012, nine people were killed and dozens more were injured when a charter bus crashed through a guardrail and plummeted down a 200-foot embankment on icy Interstate 84 neaer Pendleton.