BEATRICE – One member of a Wamego, Kansas family was killed and three other family members seriously injured, in a crash Wednesday near their hometown.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reports 37-year-old Randy Tinkel, of Wamego…the driver of a 2013 Ford F-250 pickup, was killed in the accident.  36-year-old Jillian Tinkel and two children, ages seven and two, were taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, with serious injuries.

The KHP says the family’s pickup was eastbound on U.S. Highway 24 near Airport Road…stopped and waiting to make a left turn.  A 2008 Ford Fusion was  eastbound coming up on the pickup and slowing down, when a third vehicle….a semi-trailer truck…struck the two other vehicles from behind.

The pickup came to rest on its roof, on the south side of the roadway.  The Fusion that was slowing came to rest on its side north of the roadway.  It was driven by 34-year-old Megan Schindler, of St. Mary’s, Kansas.  She was taken to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka, with suspected serious injuries. 

The driver of the semi-trailer…44-year-old Mark Stanwix, of Lecompton, Kansas…was not injured in the collision.

The accident happened at around 5:30 p.m., Wednesday…about a mile east of Wamego. 

The Kansas Highway Patrol said the fatality victim and front-seat passenger in the pickup were not using safety restraints…and the two children were in safety restraints.  The drivers of the car and semi-trailer truck were buckled in.