MANKATO, Kan. — Authorities say a teenage worker was killed as he loaded traffic-control equipment onto a trailer on the side of a north-central Kansas highway.
The Kansas Highway Patrol says the accident happened around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday along U.S. Highway 36 in Jewell County. Investigators say 18-year-old Gabriel Rupp, of Hays, was on the north shoulder of the highway loading traffic control equipment when he was hit by a westbound semitrailer. The semi ended up in the north ditch of the highway. Television station KSNW reports that Rupp was declared dead at the scene.
Investigators say the 55-year-old driver of the semi was not injured.