A 33-year-old Burnsville man was killed and five other people were hurt in a four-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Hwy. 52 in St. Paul, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The crash happened when a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu heading north on Hwy. 52 near Plato Boulevard tried to merge from the left lane to the right, hitting a 2000 Saturn SL, which then rear-ended a 2008 Honda Civic. The Civic then hit a 2017 Ford Escape. The Civic came to rest blocking the left lane, the Chevy and Saturn came to rest in the right lane and the Ford Escape on the right-hand shoulder.

Gary J. Lesney, 64, of Inver Grove Heights, who was driving the Ford Escape, and Joseph P. Yanish, 41, of West St. Paul, who was driving the Honda Civic, suffered noncritical injuries and were not hospitalized. Lesney was wearing a seat belt, but it was not known if Yanish was, the patrol said.

The Saturn SL was driven by David McLin, 28, of Apple Valley, who along with one of his two passengers, Hailey M. Flynn, 20, of Minneapolis, was taken to Regions Hospital with noncritical injuries. A second passenger, Anthony Keli Kawino, was killed. None of the three people in the Saturn was wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the Chevy Malibu was Megan Severson, 20, of Preston, Minn. She was wearing a seat belt and suffered noncritical injuries that did not require hospitalization.

Alcohol is not thought to have played a role in the crash, the patrol said.

On Tuesday afternoon, an SUV driver and his passenger were killed in a collision with a semitrailer truck at a rural intersection east of Crookston, Minn., authorities in Polk County said.

Jacob Anderson, 36, of Fertile, Minn., and Alison Reierson, 33, of nearby Winger, were killed, the Sheriff's Office said.

The big rig's driver, Robert Arnett, 62, of Silver Bay, Minn., was uninjured.

Staff reports