Authorities have identified the family members who were in an SUV when it collided with a semitrailer truck on a snowy interstate in eastern North Dakota, leaving two children dead.
Trista Curry, 30, of Fargo, lost control of a sports-utility vehicle on Interstate 29 late Sunday morning south of Grand Forks and was hit by the semi, the State Patrol said Monday night.
Killed were her sons Maxwell Dean, 1, and Camden Dean, 9, according to the patrol. Curry and daughter Avalon Dean, 3, were seriously injured. Everyone in the SUV was using the proper restraints, the patrol said.
The truck driver, 50-year-old Michael Soyring, of Fargo, was not injured.
An online fundraising campaign has raised more than $64,000 as of Tuesday evening to help the family with funeral and medical expenses.
"Camden and Maxwell were lights in their parents' lives and the loss is unimaginable," campaign organizer Cassandra Ward wrote on the page.
"Trista's partner and the children's father, Bryan, works incredibly hard and travels for work often. Trista worked 3 jobs before the accident," the posting continued. Bryan Dean was not in the SUV at the time of the crash.
Curry was heading north on I-29, attempted to pass another vehicle and "began a spin on the roadway," a statement from the patrol read. The trailing semi driver braked and steered left but still struck the SUV on the passenger side.
