VAN STRIKES 5 WORKERS IN MARYLAND: ONE DEAD

Police are searching for the driver of a van who fled after striking five construction workers, killing one, on U.S. 29 on Monday. The workers were taking a break about 1 p.m. when a white Ford Econoline 150 work van traveling north swerved out of control and hit a parked truck in the construction line, police said. That truck hit another truck in front of it, pushing it into a cement mixer.

The impact forced the work van to the right, where it struck all five workers, who were sitting on the guardrail nearby, police said. One worker was pronounced dead at the scene, three others were in critical condition Monday night, police said.

Three of the victims were flown to area hospitals, and one was taken by ambulance to an area hospital. The driver got out of the van and ran into a wooded area that surrounds U.S. 29 north and southbound. Police said there may have been passengers in the van who also ran.

They said the van is registered to an individual, not a company, and the driver is believed to have sustained some form of injury during the collision.

The van driver may have been on his way to a worksite, police said. Any jobsite that was expecting a worker with a white van who never arrived, or has an employee with an injury, is asked to call the Collision Reconstruction Unit.

Hospital workers who treat a worker coming in with a suspicious injury consistent with a collision are asked to call police. Crews closed Route 29 in both directions for several hours. Officials were still searching for the driver of the van as of Monday night