2 Boys in Minivan Crash Improve

Two boys who suffered head injuries when a minivan they were riding in collided with a sports car Thursday evening were improving Friday, hospital officials said.

The injured boys’ conditions were upgraded from critical to fair, said Steve Rutledge, a spokesman for Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, where the boys, ages 7 and 9, were taken by helicopter after the accident.

The crash occurred about 6:40 p.m. Thursday in the 11900 block of Terra Bella Street. An eastbound Chevrolet van, driven by an unidentified woman in her 20s and carrying five children, was making a left turn into a private driveway when it was struck by a Ford Mustang traveling westbound, Los Angeles police spokesman Officer Don Cox said.

The impact caused the minivan’s sliding door to open, and four of the five children were ejected from the vehicle, police said.

Three of the children, a 10-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, were taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills with minor injuries, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said. The driver was not taken to a hospital.

The driver of the Mustang, also a woman in her 20s whose name was not released, was taken to Pacifica Hospital of the Valley with serious injuries, Wells said. Her passenger, an 18-year-old woman, suffered minor injuries and was treated at Pacifica Hospital.

No one was cited in the crash and the investigation into its cause is continuing.