Authorities say four people, including a young child, who died in a collision in Texas early Friday morning appear to be from Kitchener, Ont.

Police say the collision was triggered by a vehicle travelling the wrong way on Interstate 35 northbound, in the community of Kyle, south of Austin.

Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett confirmed the four fatalities: two men, a woman and a baby in a minivan, died at the scene shortly after 1 a.m.

The deceased have been identified as 27-year-old Margaretha Wall Hildebrandt, 31-year-old Heinrich Martens, 30-year-old Gerhard Hiebert Peters and 16-month-old Jacob Wall Hiebert.

Kyle Police dispatchers received a 911 call reporting a wrong-way driver heading southbound on the northbound side of the highway. A subsequent call was made to 911 reporting the crash.

There were three vehicles involved in the wreck including a Honda, a minivan and a pick-up truck. Kyle Police believe the driver of the Civic, 22-year-old Wilson Rene Molinares was going the wrong way on I-35. He was taken to an Austin hospital in critical condition. Police are still in the early stages of the investigation so no charges have been laid at this time and there is no confirmation that alcohol or drugs were a factor. Police believe he resides in San Marcos, Texas but is from the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The driver of the pick-up truck, 23-year-old Luke Barone, was treated at the scene and released.

Kim Hilsenbeck, Communications Specialist, for the City of Kyle, tells CTV News two young children who were also were in the minivan were sent to Dell Children’s Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Six-year-old Helen Hiebert Wall and three-year-old Mikayla Hiebert have since been released into the custody of family members, who flew in.

“The little girls did not know the details about their family until their other family members arrived. I’m sure it was a difficult conversation. I can’t imagine anyone in the family is doing well right now. It’s just a horrific situation for everyone involved,” says Hilsenbeck.

Hilsenbeck says it took firefighters several hours to extract the surviving children from the seats of the car, which had been crushed in the wreck.

The Kyle Police Department raised money for the girls to buy clothes and stuffed animals.

Traffic was diverted for several hours after the crash. Kyle Police reopened the highway around 6:30 am. The highway will also be closed for about four hours on Sunday morning to continue the investigation.