A car sits on I-70 after being involved in an accident near Topeka on Monday, July 19, 2010.

Topeka ? At least three people — and possibly four — were injured Monday morning in a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 70 east of Topeka.

Four cars and a semi-truck collided about 10 a.m. at milepost 188, near the Topeka service area on the Kansas Turnpike. The service area is just across the Shawnee-Douglas County line.

The Kansas Turnpike Authority gave this account:

• A 2001 Pontiac sedan driven by Juan Cardenas, 37, of Kansas City, Kan., was parked on the side of the road while Cardenas worked to replace his flat tire.

• Alejandro Casas, 30, of Lenexa, parked his Ford F-150 on the side of the road, behind the Pontiac, to help Cardenas replace the flat.

• Michelle Jones, 38, of Gardner, was driving her Chevrolet pickup truck west when she fell asleep and hit the rear of Casas’ truck, which then hit the Pontiac sedan parked in front of it.

• The Pontiac then was pushed into traffic, where it was struck by Claire Luyckx’s 2006 Buick. Luyckx, 76, is from Ridgway, Colo. The Pontiac was then struck again — this time by a semi-truck driven by 37-year-old Jason Crow, of Liberty, Mo.

Jones, Casas and Cardenas were all listed as injured and were taken to area hospitals. Luyckx was listed as “possibly” injured and was also taken to the hospital for evaluation.

A helicopter ambulance was used to transport one of the patients. A hospital representative at Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka said Monday night that Alejandro Casas had been treated and released.

Condition information for the other patients was not available Monday evening.