5 killed in pair of wrong-way crashes on Chicago expressway

CHICAGO (AP) - Five people were killed in separate, fiery wrong-way crashes on a Chicago expressway early Monday, state police said.

The first crash along the Eisenhower Expressway, or Interstate 290, occurred about 1:10 a.m. in west suburban Forest Park when a wrong-way driver hit a car in the eastbound lanes, killing both drivers while their vehicles burst into flames, said Illinois State Police spokeswoman Gabriela Ugarte.

A passenger in the vehicle hit by the wrong-way driver was hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries.

A half-hour after that crash, a vehicle drove the wrong way onto an I-290 ramp and collided head-on with another vehicle, causing both to catch fire, Ugarte said.

Both drivers and a passenger in one of the vehicles were killed, police said.

A 51-year-old man from Skokie and a 24-year-old woman from Chicago were among the three people killed in that crash, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The medical examiner's office has not released any of the crash victims' names.