GEORGE — Three people died and nine others were injured in a two-vehicle collision near George early Thursday morning.

About 4:30 a.m. a SUV collided with a full-size passenger van at the intersection of Adams Road South and Frenchman Hills Road Southwest, about five miles south of George.

“The van was heading north on Adams (Road South) and the SUV was heading east on Frenchman (Hills Road Southwest). Frenchman has a stop sign and what they are looking at right now is that the SUV failed to yield to the van,” Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman told the Columbia Basin Herald on Thursday.

The driver of the SUV was the sole occupant of the vehicle and there were 11 total people in the van, all of whom were reportedly on their way to work. Everyone involved in the collision was an adult. The van reportedly left the road after it was hit and rolled several times, which caused the ejection of several occupants. Three people who were in the van died at the scene of the collision. Nine other people, eight from the van and the driver of the SUV, were injured and transported to local hospitals via ambulance or LifeFlight helicopter.

The sheriff’s office predicted it would take the majority of the day on Thursday to positively identify all of the occupants of the van.

“The first notification will be to the families of those involved in this crash. For the families of those killed, once the next of kin have been notified, then the coroner can release the names of the deceased. This effort is expected to take most of the day,” reads a statement from the GCSO.

Deputies will be assisting the coroner's office and will be releasing the names “once the time is right.” It is not known if everyone involved in the collision was wearing a seat belt.

“Based on the number of people who were ejected, it suggests that some seat belts were not worn,” Foreman stated.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.