GRAND MARAIS - Six people from Wisconsin traveling in a motorhome escaped life-threatening injury during an incident on Minnesota Highway 61 in northeast Minnesota on Tuesday.
The motorhome traveling northeast in Cook County and driven by 66-year-old Mark Damaske, of Mequon, Wis., veered to avoid a small SUV pulling a camper and traveling in the opposite direction that had crossed over the center line, the Minnesota State Patrol said in a news release.
The motorhome evaded the SUV, but got hung up on the small shoulder, driving into the right ditch and “hitting an approach and trees,” the State Patrol news release said.
The Wisconsin occupants - Fred Damaske, 65, Mukwonago; Sam Crow, 74, Mequon; Bradley Townsend, 44, Eagle; Paul Bertheaume, 53, Germantown; and Timothy Michel, 61, Waukesha - were taken by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries to medical centers in Silver Bay and Two Harbors, the State Patrol said in the news release.
The incident occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. near milepost 76.
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Only one of the passengers was wearing a seatbelt, the news release said.
