Driver dead, 5 injured as car crashes into hospital in Austin, Texas

A driver died and five others, including two children, were injured when a car crashed into a hospital in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, officials said.

The number of injured was less than the 10 initially reported, and included one child and one adult hospitalized in critical condition, emergency and hospital officials said at an evening news conference.

The driver of the sedan that plowed into the emergency room area of St. David’s North Austin Medical Center was pulled from the wreckage and received CPR, but succumbed to injuries, officials said.

Injured survivors had been in the lobby of the hospital’s emergency room section, said Dr. Peter DeYoung, the facility’s chief medical officer.

Emergency room doctors swung into action and worked on the driver and on others injured by the crash, he said. He called the loss of life on Tuesday a “tragedy.”

The two injured children and one of the injured adults were taken to Dell Children’s Medical Center, Austin-Travis County EMS said in an earlier statement.

Water covered part of the facility’s floor because the crash ruptured a fish tank, De Young said.

Austin police said a preliminary look at the incident revealed no ill will on the part of the driver, but the matter was still being probed.

“This incident does not appear to be an intentional act,” the department said on social media platform X.

Christa Stedman, an Austin-Travis County EMS captain, said police assigned vehicular homicide detectives to the case.

The crash prompted the hospital to close the E.R. to patients arriving by ambulance, De Young said. As many as eight patients already at the facility were being transferred to other facilities as the hospital considers when to reopen to ambulance traffic, he said.

The hospital is one of 16 that offer basic trauma care in the Austin region, according to a Texas nonprofit that tracks medical care.

The structure of the facility was essentially intact, De Young said.

NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin said the crash was reported around 5:36 p.m.

Austin-Travis County EMS designated it as a Level 4 mass casualty incident, which means outside resources could be required. Level 5 is the highest, most urgent level.

A hazardous-materials team was sent to the scene, the Austin Fire Department said on social media platform X. It wasn’t clear if something specific inspired the hazmat response, but hospitals are customarily sites of various hazardous materials.