CHAPPELL, Neb. (AP) -- A motor home caught fire on a road in western Nebraska, killing four children and injuring three others and the driver, the Nebraska State Patrol said Thursday.
The motor home was discovered burning on a road just off Interstate 80 near Chappell on Wednesday afternoon, said patrol spokeswoman Terri Teuber. Two occupants were outside the motor home, and the others were found inside.
The driver, Laura Nelson, 37, and the three injured children were flown to a Denver, Colo., hospital, said a spokeswoman with Memorial Health Center in Sidney, where they were first taken. The children were identified as Kenny Reed, 11; Josh Clark, 13, and Avion Reed, 8.
Nelson's children, Ruby, 15, and Haley, 6, and five of their cousins, ages 7 to 16, were inside the motor home, her brother-in-law Alan Wilson said Thursday.
``From what we understand, Anthony (a 16-year-old cousin) was in the front passenger seat and where he should have been able to get out,'' Wilson said. ``Laura came around to try to get the kids out and didn't know why Anthony didn't make it. She thinks he went in to save the other kids.''
Authorities said they believe the fire started in the vehicle's engine, but the cause wasn't immediately clear.
Wilson said Nelson and her husband had picked up the used 1970s, 22-foot Winnebago camper about four days earlier.
``Laura was the driver, and she hit the brakes, but there were no brakes. She ended up in a field,'' he said Nelson told her husband.
The family lived in western Nebraska.
Chappell Fire Chief Jim Reichman said the motor home had been traveling just south of town on a road that links to the interstate, about 80 miles southeast of Scottsbluff. He directed questions to Deuel County Attorney Doug Palik, who serves as the county coroner. Palik did not immediately return a phone message Thursday.
