Two children and a man were killed after their car went into a river near St. Cloud early Monday.
Two other men who had been in the vehicle were treated for their injuries at a hospital and released.
The vehicle was found partially submerged upside down in the Sauk River, beneath a bridge in the 7000 block of Stearns County Road 75.
A 20-year-old man from St. Cloud, the driver, was dead at the scene. A 5-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl died after being taken to St. Cloud Hospital. Police Sgt. Lori Ellering said the children are believed to be siblings.
Ellering said it was the first triple traffic fatality that she knew of in the city in her 16 years on the force.
The injured were a 33-year-old man from St. Cloud and a 20-year-old man from Moorhead, Minn. One of them is believed to be the children's father.
The cause of the crash has yet to be determined, Ellering said. Autopsies were being conducted by the Ramsey County medical examiner's office, and the State Patrol is reconstructing the crash. All identities were being withheld pending notification of family members.
Ellering said a sheriff's deputy was driving by when he noticed a street sign down that looked like it had been knocked over by a vehicle. He got out to take a closer look, searched the area and after a short time, spotted the overturned vehicle in the river, she said. The car had left the road, went down an embankment and flipped over. It was not known how long the car had been in the water. All five were still in the car when the deputy spotted it.
