Four people were injured Thursday after an injury accident on Interstate 70, 1 mile east of the K-232 Junction in Ellsworth County. Kansas Highway Patrol reports a Ford Focus carrying four people from New Orleans, La., was westbound in a construction zone at 9:25 p.m. when it ran out of gas. While the car was still rolling, the driver, 23-year-old Pokharel Rabin, tried to make a U-turn in an attempt to make it to a gas station he had just passed.
The car stopped, partially blocking the westbound lanes. Rabin and one of his passengers got out and attempted to flag down traffic when a Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Francisco E. Lemus-Arita, 29, Kansas City, struck the Focus head-on. Rabin was also injured and was taken to Salina Regional Medical Center. The other pedestrian, Sharma Jirjan, 22, was not injured but was transported with other injured parties to Ellsworth Regional Medical Center.
Pokharel Kumari Gita, 52, and Kumar Pokharel Rohini, 60, were still in the Focus and were injured. The driver of the Eclipse was not injured, but passenger Osmany E. Vasquez-Arita, 23, Kansas City, was injured. No one in either vehicle was wearing a seat belt.