VERSAILLES – Tuesday, shortly before 3:00 pm, multiple first responders responded to US 421 just north of Versailles, Indiana, for a two-vehicle head-on crash that claimed the life of two Ripley County men.
The initial investigation by Troopers with the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post indicates that a 2001 Ford F-450 dump truck, being driven by Nathan M. Vogelsang, age 24, Dillsboro, Indiana, was traveling southbound on US 421 near County Road 100 North. For an unknown reason, Vogelsang lost control of the vehicle. His vehicle crossed the centerline into the path of a northbound semi pulling a Mack box trailer, being driven by Oleh Hrudnenko, age 34, Buffalo, Illinois. The vehicles collided nearly head-on in the northbound lane.
Tragically, Vogelsang and a passenger in his vehicle, Landen J. W. Comer, 19, Osgood, Indiana, sustained fatal injuries in the crash and were both pronounced deceased at the scene by the Ripley County Coroner’s Office. Hrudnenko sustained minor injuries in the crash.
Indiana State Police Crash Reconstructionists were called in to document the scene thoroughly. The crash remains under investigation. Toxicology results are pending, although there are no initial indications that alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash.Â
US 421 was closed for approximately five hours for crash investigation and cleanup, and investigators remained on the scene late into the evening.
The families of both of the deceased men have been notified.
Indiana State Police Investigators were assisted by the Ripley County Sheriff’s Department, Versailles Police Department, Osgood Police Department, Ripley County EMS, Versailles Fire Department, Ripley County EMA, Ripley County Coroner’s Office, and Affordable Todd’s Wrecker Service.
