Several injuries in Hwy. 20 crash near Santiam Junction

(Update: Initial info from OSP)

Several people were injured in a three-vehicle crash that shut U.S. Highway 20 near Santiam Junction Saturday night and led to the reported call-out of three air ambulances,officials said.

Oregon State Police Lt. Mark Duncan said they were dispatched around 9:10 p.m. to the crash on Highway 20 near milepost 76, about a mile east of the junction of highways 20 and 22.

ODOT crews were called to the scene, as were eventually air ambulance. Unconfirmed police scanner reports indicated both AirLink and a Life Flight helicopter were called first — and when a third patient needed to be airlifted, one was called in from Cottage Grove.

Duncan said Sunday that several people were taken to St. Charles Bend by air ambulance, and there were at this point no confirmed fatalities.

The vehicles were removed and road reopened by Sunday morning after several hours of closure, then lane restrictions due to the investigation. Duncan said more information will be released as it becomes available.

The Santiam Junction crash and an earlier one on state Highway 22 west of Detroit that killed a Redmond couple caused lengthy backups into late Saturday night on the main route between Salem and Central Oregon.

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