Two people died in a two-vehicle crash Saturday night that closed a section of U.S. Highway 97 south of Redmond, Oregon State Police said in a release Sunday.

At approximately 7:14 p.m., police responded to the scene near milepost 128 not far from 61st Street, the release said.

The initial investigation found a white Ford Econoline traveling northbound on Highway 97 drove onto the road shoulder, lost control and drove across both northbound lanes, the center median of the highway and into oncoming, southbound traffic.

In the southbound lanes it crashed into a southbound Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The driver of the van, Ghandi Lakshmi Satya Sai Yerramsetti, 23, of Redmond, and the passenger of the Jeep, Christy Lee Bigelow, 29, of Bend, both died. The driver of the Jeep, Nicholas Loren Husted, 32, of Bend, was taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

As law enforcement investigated the crash ODOT, crews shut down the highway for hours and detoured traffic.

During the investigation, an alleged impaired driver crashed into an ODOT vehicle diverting traffic at 61st Street. The suspect, Nicholas Jason Cardone, 33, of Bend was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants. The driver of the ODOT vehicle was taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Then a separate crash during the investigation happened in the southbound lane. Lylliane Walczyk, 20, was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants, the release said.

OSP was assisted by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Bend Fire & Rescue, and ODOT.