The Memorial Day Holiday weekend has started off being deadly on Iowa roads, with two fatal accidents Saturday morning. The Iowa State Patrol reports in south central Iowa’s Marion County, a 22-year old woman died in a head-on crash between her van and a semi tractor-trailer on Highway 5/92, near Knoxville. The accident happened at around 7-a.m.

Authorities say Malloree Beth Murphy, of Pleasantville, was driving the 2005 Chrysler Town & Country van eastbound in the westbound lane of the highway near mile marker 615, at the same time a 2009 Polaris semi driven by 71-year old Ernest John Smith, of Knoxville, was traveling westbound. The accident remains under investigation.

About an hour later, a 42-year old woman died and an eight-year old male child was injured, during a crash in southeast Iowa’s Jefferson County. The Patrol says Wendy Le Ann Courtney, of Ottumwa, was southbound on County Road H-43 at around 8-a.m., when her 2006 Chrysler Town & Country van entered the east ditch, hit an embankment and vaulted into the air before rolling over and coming to rest on its top in the east ditch. Courtney died at the scene. The eight-year old boy was transported to University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics by air ambulance. The accident remains under investigation.