Two people were killed before dawn Tuesday in a two-vehicle collision in southern Minnesota, bringing to four the number of fatalities on icy Minnesota roads since midafternoon Monday, authorities said.

Across the state, troopers and metro police handled hundreds of crashes in the past two days. The most recent fatal crash occurred about 5:50 a.m. Tuesday northwest of Faribault, when a car slid on icy Hwy. 21 into the path of an oncoming car, according to the State Patrol.

Killed were the driver of the wayward car, Abdirahman Abdi, 35, of Noel, Mo., and one of his two passengers, Said I. Abdi, 34, of Kansas City, Mo., the patrol said.

The other passenger, Rahma B. Ibrahim, 24, of Schuyler, Neb., was being treated for serious injuries at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. The driver of the other car, Justin T. Francis, 37, of St. Peter, Minn., was uninjured.

Abdi's car was westbound on Hwy. 21 near County Road 61 when he "lost control and crossed the center line," the patrol said in a statement. The car struck the other vehicle broadside, the patrol added.

At the height of the evening commute Monday, a vehicle slid into a ditch along a Carver County highway, pitching the driver to his death.

Killed in the wreck about 5:20 p.m. at County Road 40 and Kelly Lake Road in San Francisco Township was Tyler S. Evans, 32, of Belle Plaine, according to the Sheriff's Office. Evans was pronounced dead at the scene.

About 2½ hours earlier, a two-vehicle crash near Courtland in Blue Earth County killed a 30-year-old woman, the State Patrol said.

Mridusha Allen, of Springfield, Minn., lost control of her car while westbound on Hwy. 68 and was struck broadside by a semitrailer truck heading east, the patrol said. The truck's driver, Howard J. Klingler, 63, of New Ulm, Minn., was not hurt.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482