(ELKHART COUNTY) – Three people were airlifted following a two vehicle crash on the Indiana Toll Road.

Indiana State Police were called to the eastbound lanes of the Toll Road near Mile Marker 97, five miles east of the Elkhart exit at 4:45 Thursday afternoon. The preliminary investigation shows that a Mack semi driven by 37 year old Donta Johns of Chicago, was towing a tanker east when it approached traffic that was traveling slowly due to a previous crash. Johns moved from the right lane and started to slow down and was struck from behind by a passenger car.

The man driving the car, along with a female front seat passenger and a male passenger in the back seat, were all flown from the scene to South Bend Memorial Hospital with serious and potentially life threatening injuries.

Traffic in both the east and west lanes were shut down for approximately 40 minutes to allow for the helicopters to land and load the patients. The right hand eastbound lane was reopened at 7:40 PM. The other lane was closed for several hours as crash reconstruction experts went over the accident.