Two UMES students killed in head-on collision with suspected impaired driver Sunday morning

Two University of Maryland Eastern Shore students died in a car crash early Sunday morning when their vehicle was struck head-on by a suspected impaired driver.

"We grieve the loss of our UMES students and pray [that] the other students hurt have a full recovery," UMES President Heidi M. Anderson said in a statement. "This tragedy has taken two promising young people at the very start of their adult lives and deprived our Hawk community, their families and friends of the dynamic futures they were poised to live."

Delaware State Police troopers responded around 1:35 a.m. Sunday to the scene of the crash on Sussex Highway in Seaford.

A Nissan Rogue SUV with four UMES students was driving south in the left lane when a Honda Pilot SUV driving north crossed into the same lane causing a head-on collision, police said.

The front passenger of the Nissan, a 22-year-old man from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and the rear right passenger, an 18-year-old woman from Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, were declared dead at the scene, police said. The driver of the Nissan, a 22-year-old man from Washington, D.C., and the left rear passenger, an 18-year-old woman from Bethesda, were taken to a hospital with critical injuries, police said.

The driver of the Honda, a 24-year-old man from Georgetown, Delaware, was taken to an area hospital for serious injuries, and impairment is suspected to be a factor in the crash, police said. The Pilot's passenger, a 40-year-old man also from Georgetown, was taken to an area hospital for critical injuries, police said.

The Delaware State Police Troop 7 Collision Reconstruction Unit continues to investigate the crash.