Portageville, Mo. ? Four people died Wednesday in an accident on Interstate 55 in Missouri’s Bootheel when a vehicle struck a tractor-trailer nearly head on, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

The accident occurred at 10:45 a.m. near Portageville, said Shannon McGowan of the Highway Patrol in Poplar Bluff.

A southbound vehicle crossed the I-55 median and struck a tractor-trailer in the northbound lane, the patrol said.

The truck driver, whose injuries were not disclosed, was airlifted to a Cape Girardeau hospital for treatment.

The four dead were in the other vehicle. The patrol identified three of the victims as Joseph Down, 71, Betty Wimpie, 44, and Robert Thompson, 74 – all of Milwaukee. The identity of the fourth victim was not immediately known.