MARiETTA – A 6-year-old child was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Sunday morning on Interstate 77 in Washington County, the Marietta Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

The accident happened shortly before 4 a.m. near milepost 17 in Aurelius Township where a 2022 Chrysler Voyager driven by Joseph Greathouse, 62, of Kent, Ohio, north on I-77 went into the grassy median, the patrol said. The Voyager traveled through the median to an overpass area, went airborne over an embankment and Ohio 821, overturning into Duck Creek, where it struck an embankment and came to rest on its top, the patrol said.

Greathouse was flown by medical helicopter to Grant Medical Center for serious injuries, the patrol said. EMS transported three passengers ages 32, 11 and 1 to Marietta Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, the patrol said.

The 6-year old in his booster died at the scene, the patrol said.

Responding agencies include the Highway Patrol, the Highway Patrol Crash Reconstruction Unit, the Devola Volunteer Fire Department, the Fearing Volunteer Fire Department, the Salem Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, Westfall’s Towing and the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Alcohol and drugs are not suspected to be a factor in the crash, the patrol said. The crash remains under investigation, the patrol said.