A coroner says three adults and two children have drowned in southern Illinois after the vehicle they were riding in was swept away and sank in a rain-swollen creek.
Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon says the swift moving East Fork Creek carried the car off a low-water bridge near the town of Patoka, about 60 miles east of St. Louis, about 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The car became lodged 150 to 200 feet downstream, but shortly after the first firefighter arrived on the scene, the car became dislodged and sank.
Cannon says dive teams recovered the car from the water several hours later and the bodies of the victims from the car.
The names of the victims were not immediately released. Cannon says the vehicle was traveling from Kentucky to Minnesota.
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