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Amish Community Reeling After Michigan Crashes Kill 6

Separate crashes left at least 6 members of Amish community dead, including a baby
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 14, 2025 12:00 AM CDT
Amish Community Reeling After Michigan Crashes Kill 6
This is an image made from a video screen grab. WJRT-TV is an AP member. Caption: GILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. _ A firefighter sprays a pickup truck after a deadly two-vehicle crash in Tuscola County, Mich., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025,   (WJRT-TV via AP)

A pickup truck went through a stop sign in rural Michigan Tuesday and crashed into a van carrying members of an Amish community, killing at least six people, authorities said. The afternoon crash occurred in Tuscola County's Gilford Township, 100 miles north of Detroit, the AP reports. Thirteen people were in the two vehicles, including 10 in the van, the sheriff's office said. "Multiple passengers were ejected from the van and the pickup," the sheriff's office said on Facebook. "At this time there are 6 confirmed fatalities and the condition of the additional patients is unknown."

Members of a local Amish community were in the van, Undersheriff Robert Baxter said Wednesday. "They had a paid driver in the van," he told the Associated Press. "I'm not sure where they were headed or where they were coming from. They're county residents." Baxter said seven people were taken to a hospital. He had no update on their conditions. According to ABC 12, five of the six killed were members of the Amish community, while one person in the pickup truck was among the dead. The Amish generally follow basic Christian beliefs while maintaining a degree of separation from common society. They typically rely on horse-drawn buggies for transportation and do not operate their own cars or trucks but will ride in vehicles driven by people who are not Amish.

In a separate tragedy Tuesday in western Michigan, a 4-month-old girl died after a crash involving a pickup truck and an Amish buggy, state police said. There were four other children and two adults in the buggy. A 2-year-old boy was in critical condition, police said. "This tragic crash is a sobering reminder to drive with patience and caution in areas where horse-and-buggy travel is a way of life," police said. About 61% of North America's Amish population lives in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, according to Elizabethtown College, though Michigan also has a relatively large share.

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