Wreckage from impact. Strewn along highway tjat connects Fountain City and Neillsville. The collision was 16 miles from the highway’s northern terminus in Neillsville.

All but one passenger killed in van; trucker also dead

MERRILLAN, Wis. – Nine people died in the collision of a van loaded with passengers and a truck on State Highway 95. One passenger in the van survived and was taken 56 miles to the Chippewa Falls hospital. Clark County Sheriff Scott Haines declined to release the names of the victims, but this much was known:

> The driver of the truck, which was pulling a semi-trailer, was killed.

> Eight people in the van were killed.

Coroner Clarissa Rochester confirmed that the fatalities were all dead at the scene. The collision was about 7:50 a.m. on a long straight stretch of State Highway 95 near a rural intersection with Clark County Road J, also known locally as Fisher Avenue. This is north of Hatfield and the Black River’s Lake Arbutus. The van was northbound on County J, which has a stop sign at the intersection. The truck was eastbound on 95 going toward Neillsville. Both 95 and J were expected be closed the rest of the day as crew removed wreckage.

Tragic remnants. The mangled wreckage east of Merillan on two-lane highway.

State 95 profile

Wisconsin Highway 95 is a 73-mile connection between Fountain City and Neillsville. It climbs a steep dugway out of Fountain City, follows a ridgetop 14 miles, drops down into Arcadia, then heads easterly to Blair, Hixton, Alma Center and  Merillan, and connects with U.S. 10 at Neillsville.