Authorities say that a child "improperly secured" in his seat played a role in a 6-year-old boy dying in a two-vehicle crash in northeast North Dakota.

The collision occurred midafternoon Thursday on Hwy. 281 roughly 35 miles north of Devils Lake, the state Highway Patrol said.

Along with Eugene Cain not surviving the crash, minivan driver Alden Cain, 52, was injured as was 47-year-old passenger Kathy Cain, the patrol said Saturday. Both had on their seat belts. All three in the family's minivan are from St. John, N.D.

There were no injuries among the three people in the other vehicle, a compact car. All were in the proper seat restraints.

According to the patrol:

The car's driver was heading north on Hwy. 281 a few miles north of Cando, put on his turn signal and slowed to turn left. The minivan's driver attempted to pass on the left and was struck on the passenger side by the car.

The minivan went in the ditched and rolled over, pitching the boy from the vehicle "due to being improperly secured in the seat" with a seat belt, the patrol said.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482