BEATRICE – A two-car highway collision north of Beatrice backed up traffic early Friday night near a truck stop….and a second accident happened shortly later just south of that scene.

The first collision sent Beatrice Fire and Rescue, Beatrice Rural Fire, Gage County Sheriff’s Deputies and the Nebraska State Patrol to the scene, at 5:40 p.m.

The collision happened on a rainy U.S. Highway 77, slowing north and southbound traffic on the divided four-lane highway.  One of the vehicles involved in the first collision ended up on one of the northbound lanes, while the other vehicle was on one of the southbound lanes.  

Northbound traffic was backed up for about a half-mile.  Law officers were eventually able to clear one northbound lane and one southbound lane to allow traffic to move around the scene slowly.  Some of the northbound traffic diverted through a truck stop property off the east side of the highway.  

No details were immediately available about the cause of the first accident, nor those involved.  Emergency radio traffic indicated at least two people were taken to the nearby Beatrice Community Hospital with what were described as minor injuries.

At around the same time, the second two-vehicle accident was reported about a half-mile south of the truck stop intersection collision.  E-M-S personnel reported one person was injured.

A medical helicopter was unable to fly to the scene due to weather conditions.