photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

A Douglas County Sheriff's Office vehicle is pictured in January 2022.

A two-vehicle crash south of Lawrence on Sunday afternoon sent two people to the hospital and started a fire.

An SUV and a truck hauling a trailer and hay bales were involved in a crash at 1:35 p.m. on U.S. Highway 56 near Globe at East 550 Road. Both vehicles were westbound when the truck slowed and began to turn onto southbound East 550 Road, according to preliminary information from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The SUV attempted to pass the truck, striking the driver’s side door. The truck, trailer and SUV all entered the south ditch, where the SUV rolled onto its top and the truck and trailer hit a rock wall and caught fire.

Other motorists stopped to help occupants from the vehicles, the sheriff’s office said, and firefighters extinguished the blaze. Two people from the truck and trailer were taken by ambulance to a Kansas City-area hospital with serious injuries. An adult and two children from the SUV were checked at the scene and released.

The highway was open at 3:15 p.m. Sunday, but deputies were expected to close it around 4 p.m. so tow trucks could remove the vehicles from the ditch.