Two killed in head on collision on Crosstown Highway

(AP) - Two women were killed and two people were critically injured in a head-on crash on Crosstown Highway 62 early Sunday, the State Patrol said.

Barni Ahmed, 61, and Halimo Mohamud, 31, both of Eden Prairie, were driving westbound on Highway 62 near the intersection with Highway 169 in a Plymouth Breeze sedan shortly before 2 a.m. when a Lexus SUV driven by a 23-year-old Milwaukee man jumped the median, authorities said.

The vehicles collided and the Plymouth was engulfed in flames.

Mohamud died at the scene while Ahmed was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. Fei Ni, of Milwaukee, and a passenger in his car were in critical condition at HCMC. The passenger's name and hometown were not immediately released.

The women who died were on the way home from a wedding. Mohamud was the mother of seven children - four boys and three girls - ranging from 13 years to three months, said her husband, Hassan Mohamud, as a steady stream of visitors flocked to their home.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

Melting snow made many Twin Cities roadways wet during the day Saturday but ice formed when temperatures fell below freezing overnight. However, it wasn't immediately clear if that was a factor in the crash. Several other accidents around the Twin Cities area early Sunday were attributed to icy conditions.