A head-on crash on a northern Minnesota highway early Wednesday left one driver dead and the other critically injured, authorities said.

The collision involving a car and a pickup truck occurred about 12:40 a.m. on Hwy. 371 roughly 20 miles southeast of Bemidji, the State Patrol said.

Darlene M. Johnson, 23, of Bemidji, did not survive her injuries, the patrol said. The other driver, Steven J. Lasser, 24, of Roseville, was taken to a Fargo area hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to the patrol.

Johnson was heading south in her car and collided with Lasser in his northbound pickup just east of Steamboat Lake, the patrol said. The pickup came to rest on its roof, while the car landed in a ditch.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482