Five dead in fiery crash on Chicago expressway

Illinois State Police say a man who was driving the wrong way on an expressway west of downtown Chicago early Sunday caused a fiery crash that killed five people, including himself.

The accident closed all lanes of the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) for nearly three hours, said Illinois State Trooper Ivan Bukaczyk.

"A man was driving a Volvo westbound in the eastbound lanes when he collided head-on with a BMW carrying four people," Bukaczyk said. "The BMW then burst into flames -- almost an explosion. It was also hit by a van that couldn't stop in time, but we don't know yet if that happened before or after it caught on fire."

The van driver reportedly escaped major injury.

Bukaczyk said all four people in the BMW were trapped inside and were pronounced dead on the scene.

Eve Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Fire Department, said the driver of the Volvo was taken by ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Some witnesses said the Volvo was traveling at nearly 100 mph, but Bukaczyk said investigators had not determined its rate of speed early Sunday.

"You have to realize that with a head-on like this, if both vehicles are only traveling the 55 mph. speed limit, the impact would be the equivalent of hitting something at 110 mph." he said.

Bukaczyk said troopers were able to contact the family of the Volvo driver, but not those of the people who had been in the BMW. He said friends who had been traveling in another vehicle told troopers the four were members of a family from Mexico and had no known close relatives in the U.S.