4 killed in head-on crash on Hwy. 169 near Mille Lacs Lake

Four people were killed and one was critically injured in a head-on collision on a rural stretch of highway in central Minnesota, officials said.

The crash occurred shortly before 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 on Hwy.169 along the south shore of Lake Mille Lacs in Kathio Township, the State Patrol said.

There was one person in one car and four in the other, the patrol said.

“There are four confirmed fatalities, and one person with life-threatening injuries in this crash,” Patrol Lt. Mike Lee told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The patrol said it expects to release their identities by the end of Thursday afternoon, Feb. 26..

The crash is the deadliest in Minnesota since June 2023, when five young women were killed in a crash on E. Lake Street caused by a speeding driver who had just exited Interstate 35W. That driver, 30-year-old Derrick Thompson, is serving a 59-year sentence after being convicted of five counts of third-degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide.

Details of the most recent crash, according to the patrol:

The Saab’s driver was a 53-year-old woman from Minneapolis. Her passengers were a 51-year-old man from Minneapolis and two people from Onamia, Minn., a 41-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman.

Mille Lacs Tribal Police Chief James West, whose department assisted state troopers at the scene, said three of the people killed were in the Saab, and the other person who died was the Buick’s driver.

The highway was dry at the time of the crash, the patrol said.

This is the second deadly head-on wreck in as many days on that two-lane section of the highway.

On Feb. 24, the driver of a southbound car lost control in snowy and icy conditions about 8:50 a.m., slid across the center line and collided with a northbound SUV near 460th Street, the State Patrol said.