Ryan wrecks send eleven to hospitals

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Eleven people have been hospitalized after two separate accidents including one involving nine cars on the southbound Dan Ryan Expressway Sunday morning on the South Side.

Police are trying to figure out what caused the crashes because the road is dry and the sun was shining.

The first occurred at 8:36 a.m. in the express lanes near 33rd Street, according to an Illinois State Police District Chicago trooper.

In this crash, as many as five people have been hospitalized with non life-threatening injures, according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Quention Curtis. Hospital information was not immediately available.

As of 9:40 a.m., no lanes are closed, and the wreckage has been moved off the expressway, the trooper said.

At 9:07 a.m. a separate wreck occurred between the local and express lanes near 26th Street, according to the trooper.

Nine cars crashed and six people were taken to hospitals, according to Curtis who said an EMS Plan I, which automatically sends five ambulances to the scene, has been enacted.

Two people in fair condition and one in good condition were taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center. Two were taken in fair condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and one person was taken in fair condition to Saint Anthony Hospital, Curtis said.

Nine others declined to be taken to a hospital, said Curtis.

ISP Trooper Ricardo Sandoval said the wreck near 26th Street began when someone who was driving in excess of the speed limit rear-ended another car. The earlier wreck appeared also to be someone not observing the rules of the road, Sandoval said.

“There’s no black ice, no snow, no rain, there’s really nothing hindering people,’’ he said. Sandoval urged drivers to be careful and heed the speed limit.

As of 10:15 a.m., all lanes were clear after both crashes.