Highway collisions a mile apart, block U.S. 77 south of Beatrice

BEATRICE – Two highway speed accidents about a mile apart in southeast Nebraska, injured at least four people, at mid-day Thursday.

The collisions involved two cars that collided near U.S. Highway 77 and Oak Road five miles south of Beatrice… with emergency personnel dispatched at 12:19 p.m.  Sometime later, a pickup struck the back of a semitrailer truck, about a mile south on U.S. 77 near Osage Road.

The collisions blocked the highway through mid-afternoon, with north and southbound highway traffic diverted onto gravel roads a mile east, and a mile west of 77. 

Gage County Sheriff’s Deputies, the Nebraska State Patrol, Beatrice Rural Fire, City of Beatrice ambulance units, Wymore Fire and Rescue and Blue Springs Fire all responded to the scene of the accidents.

A Beatrice Fire Captain says one person was airlifted from the two-car accident by medical helicopter to Bryan West Health Center in Lincoln.  Two others were taken by ground ambulance to Beatrice Community Hospital. 

 A Nebraska State Patrol officer said in the south accident near U.S. 77 and Osage, the driver of the pickup was transported to the hospital for treatment.

 Initial reports were that none of the injuries were life-threatening.   The cause of both accidents and the identities of those involved were not immediately known.