BERNE, Indiana — A late-night collision on State Road 218 turned a peaceful rural road into a chaotic emergency scene after a Jeep struck a horse-drawn Amish buggy, throwing nearly everyone out of the vehicle and sending multiple people to hospitals. First responders were called to the crash at about 11:20 p.m. on October 7; when they arrived they found a badly damaged buggy scattered across the pavement and a Jeep in a ditch.

The buggy was carrying nine people at the time of the crash. Local officials say a total of seven people from the buggy were injured and taken for medical care; reports describe six of those occupants as juveniles, though some local accounts list slightly different age breakdowns. The buggy’s driver, 32-year-old Ruben L.M. Schwartz of Berne, was airlifted to Lutheran Hospital. Joseph L.M. Schwartz, 20, and five juvenile passengers were transported by ambulance to Parkview Hospital. Two other passengers — Saraetta L. Schwartz, 32, and a 2-year-old — declined treatment at the scene