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Alex Cabrero Reporting Three families are mourning tonight, after a triple fatal accident along I-80 early this morning.
UHP investigators say a car going the wrong way on the interstate slammed head-on into another car, killing three of the four people who were inside. The fourth person is in serious condition.
The man going the wrong way is in critical condition.
This crash happened at mile marker 30 near Knolls, right outside of Wendover.
The three who died were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and never had a chance to avoid the car going the wrong way.
We talked with the family of one of the men who died.
Phillip Kioa: "We listened to him. Everything. And now he's gone."
Even if Phillip Kioa and the family got all the answers as to how his brother died, it still doesn't make any sense.
Phillip Kioa/ Victim's Brother: "I was sleeping and my niece called me and told me about the news."
This is what's left of his older brother's car. Valentine Kioa was killed after being hit head on by another car going the wrong way on I-80.
Kioa was with his three best friends. Two of them -- 43-year old Vakataha Mila from West Valley and 69-year old Sosaio Fehoko of Salt Lake City-- were also killed.
A pick-up truck slammed into them early this morning. UHP investigators say 22-year old Jeffery Harrison of Washington was the man going the wrong way near Knolls.
Sgt. Tim Kincaid/ Utah Highway Patrol: "We got a call approximately three to four minutes prior to the crash, of the white pick-up going westbound in the eastbound lanes. Then we got the call of the crash."
I-80 in that area was shut down for nearly three hours as investigators did their job. The two wrecked cars were taken to a lot in Wendover as evidence.
Now, Kioa's family members are gathered at his Salt Lake home, trying to find comfort in each other and trying to comfort his wife, who now has five kids to raise on her own.
Phillip Kioa: "She's handling it very well, as far as I can see. But I'm sure she's tearing apart because that's all she had was him."
Investigators do not believe speed was a factor in this crash, but they're not sure about drugs or alcohol. That's still being investigated.
