Fatal wrong-way interstate crash

COLUMBUS – A car driving the wrong way on a North Side interstate early Wednesday collided with a van, killing the passenger in the car and sending the drivers of both vehicles to the hospital.

Paris Malee Siripavaket, of Columbus, was travelling northbound in the southbound lanes of I-71 at Weber Road shortly after 12:30 a.m. when her Scion xB struck a Ford Transit van travelling southbound, Sgt. Brooke Wilson of the Accident Investigation Unit said.

Siripavaket’s passenger, whose name was withheld by police pending notification of next-of-kin, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Siripavaket and the driver of the van, James Roberts, were taken to Grant Medical Center for treatment.

The investigation is ongoing, Wilson said.

A section of southbound I-71 from I-270 to Weber Road was shut down for about five hours during the investigation.