10/16/17 – 5:22 A.M.

Hardin County emergency responders are mourning the loss of one of their own today. A crash involving an ambulance in southern Hardin County killed an EMT and critically injured another around 9:20 p.m. Saturday night.

The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office says Rachael Willeke of Belle Center was driving west on State Route 273 when she hit an ambulance driven by Krista McDonald at the intersection with State Route 292. The collision ejected McDonald and Peggy Eastman. Deputies pronounced McDonald dead at the scene of the crash. A medical helicopter to Eastman and a passenger in Willeke’s car to the OSU Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. An ambulance took Willeke and a child in her car to Lima Memorial Hospital.

McDonald and Eastman were returning from a crash involving an Amish horse-and-buggy near Kenton.

The crash remains under investigation.