Police: 1 dead, 2 critical in prisoner van crash

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Police say a driver of a prisoner van has been killed and two people critically injured after the van carrying 14 people drove off an interstate embankment near Hattiesburg.

Hattiesburg police spokesman Synarus Green says the van veered off Interstate 59 and overturned Sunday morning. Authorities say the van’s driver was pronounced dead at the scene and a second agent and a prisoner were critically injured.

Authorities say 11 other prisoners in the van were taken by ambulances to hospitals for treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.

Green says all 14 occupants of the van had to be cut from the wreckage. He says detectives are trying to reconstruct the accident.

Police had no immediate identification of those involved.