One Person Killed, Two Injured in Crash at Keller and Ford

One person was killed and two were injured in a collision just north of the intersection of Keller Drive and Ford Avenue Thursday afternoon.

Authorities say a car driven by 63-year-old Joseph Veech of Effingham was coming into Effingham on Illinois 32/33 when his car swerved across several lanes of traffic and collided with a car headed out of town driven by 58-year-old Karen Kull of Strasburg. The impact caused Veech's car to catch on fire. Veech was killed in the crash; his death, though, was not due to the fire.

A passenger in Veech's car, 53-year-old Pam Bennett of Effingham, was the other person injured. Kull and Bennett were both airlifted to Carle Hospital in Urbana, Kull from the scene and Bennett after initially being taken to HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham.

Effingham County Coroner Duane Guffey said an autopsy will be conducted Saturday to help determine the cause of Veech's death.

The crash occurred at 4:45pm. Work by an accident reconstruction officer and significant cleanup work kept the road closed until just after 9pm.

Illinois State Police and Effingham City Police investigated the crash. Effingham Fire Department handled the vehicle fire, with assistance from some employees of Northside Ford who rushed to the scene with fire extinguishers and helped knock down the flames. Teutopolis and Watson firefighters staffed the Effingham stations while Effingham crews were on scene at the crash. Effingham City-County Ambulance Service also assisted at the scene, and Air Evac assisted with the airlift.