Married Couple Victims in 71 Crash

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Police closed a portion of northbound Interstate 71 on the city’s south side Saturday afternoon after a crash that killed two people and left a child injured but in stable condition.  The couple was identified by Franklin County Coroner Dr. Gorniak as Salwa and Montaser Salhi.  The couple were in their mid thirties.
This crash was reported before 5 p.m. near Frank Road.  Officials at the scene told NBC 4’s Mike Bowersock that the two fatalities were adults who were in a Lexus SUV.  A child in the Lexus survived—-believed to be the Salhi’s eight year old daughter.

The second vehicle involved was a Volkswagon Jetta.  An occupant of that vehicle sustained injuries and investigators were trying to question that person. 

In the meantime, there was difficulty in identifying the fatalities. Their vehicle had been registered to a business and police were having difficulty reaching anyone at the business. 

Traffic was being rerouted until investigators photographed and mapped the scene. I-71 northbound was closed between state Route 104 and Greenlawn, but reopened one lane shortly after 6:30 p.m.

Traffic from the opposite side of the highway were faced with a scene of a draped corpse lying near the overturned SUV while the Accident Investigation Squad tried to make sense of what happened.

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