Heavy fog south of Lawrence contributed to two multicar accidents near Ottawa Friday morning. Eight people were sent to the hospital, including a 2-year-old boy in critical condition, and one man was killed.

The first accident occurred at 8:50 a.m. on Kansas Highway 68, five miles west of Ottawa. Jesse J. Turley, 21, of Quenemo, was driving westbound on K-68 in heavy fog when he attempted to pass Chad R. Sullivan, 49, of Osage City. During the pass, Turley moved into the eastbound lane where he struck a Ford pickup truck head on, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. Turley died from injuries sustained in the accident. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Sullivan swerved to avoid the accident, but ended up sideswiping the Ford, driven by John M. Corneliusen, of Shawnee. Corneliusen was taken to Ransom Memorial Hospital in Ottawa.

Sullivan and his passenger, Melinda Sullivan of Osage City, were not hospitalized.

Only 10 minutes later and roughly a mile and a half west of the first accident, six vehicles were involved in a pile-up in front of a railroad crossing. Three automobiles and a motorcycle were waiting at the crossing for a train when a pickup truck driven by Marion D. Cochrane Jr., of Edgerton, rear-ended the 2002 Grand Am at the back of the line. This caused a chain of events in which all the vehicles waiting at the train crossing and an additional truck were struck.

Vehicles damaged in an accident sit in a fog covering Kansas Highway 68 near Idaho Road between Ottawa and Pomona. A Quenemo resident died in this accident, and several more people were injured in another fog-related accident less than two miles away Friday.

The four passengers in the Grand Am, Theresa Dent, 22; Scott A. Sweetwood, 27; Autumn Sweetwood, 1 1/2; and Skylar Sweetwood, 2, all of Quenemo, were taken to Ransom Memorial Hospital. The two children were later moved to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Richard D. Bahr, 56, of Estherville, Iowa, who was waiting at the crossing on a motorcycle, was taken to Ransom Memorial Hospital, as were Cochrane and his passenger, Nicolaus Sleister, 13.

Latest forecast

As of Friday night, all the adults in the accidents were no longer at the hospital. Autumn Sweetwood was in fair condition at Children’s Mercy Hospital, according to hospital officials, and Skylar Sweetwood was in critical condition.