Chicago, IL : One person killed and six injured when a limousine flipped on Interstate 90 in Elgin on Friday morning, March 25, 2016

One person was killed and six others were injured Friday morning in a rollover crash of a limousine carrying six Madison-area passengers on Interstate 90 just west of Chicago.

The crash happened at about 7:10 a.m. near Elgin, about 40 miles west of Chicago, the Illinois State Police said.

The driver was blinded by the sun and hit the end of a barrier wall, causing the limousine to roll over between two concrete barriers, the State Police said.

The Elgin Courier-News reported that the person killed was one of the passengers who was sitting in a back seat.

The six passengers were a 53-year-old Monona woman, a 59-year-old Monona man, a 61-year-old Verona woman, a 64-year-old Verona man, a 53-year-old Fitchburg man and a 45-year old Fitchburg man.

The driver was a 20-year-old man from Janesville, the State Police said.

Authorities had not released their names.

Three of those injured were reported to be in critical condition and three in serious condition, according to the Elgin Fire Department, which responded to the crash.

Two of the passengers who had been treated at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin were released by mid-day, officials said.

The vehicle involved belonged to Lyons Limousine Service, based in Edgerton, said Master Sergeant Jason Bradley of the Illinois State Police.

Attempts to contact Lyons Limousine Service Friday were unsuccessful.

If the vehicle was equipped to carry 16 or more occupants, including the driver, the driver would have needed to be 21 years old and have a commercial driver’s license, Bradley said. Authorities were investigating Friday whether the limousine fit that passenger capacity.

Off-duty Streamwood firefighter and paramedic Chris Tierney told the Courier-News that, after coming upon the crash, he grabbed a hammer from his pickup to try to break out the windows of the limousine and rescue those inside.

“They don’t shatter instantly,” he said.

“They kind of spiderweb … so I had to hit it many times to clear the glass out,” Tierney said.

I-90 was shut down for several hours at the crash scene.

The Elgin Fire Department told WKOW-TV (Ch. 27) the limousine was heading to O’Hare Airport in Chicago, where the six passengers had planned to take a vacation flight to Mexico.

Source :
1 killed, 6 injured when limo carrying passengers from Madison area overturns near Chicago