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GARNET VALLEY, Pa. (WTXF) - Four nuns are in critical condition after a head-on car crash in Delaware County.
Police say a 21-year-old man drove into oncoming traffic on Route 322 around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night, hitting the nuns' vehicle head-on.
Paramedics transported all four nuns to the hospital.
Police say the driver of the car that hit them was a 21-year-old man who is also in critical condition.
Firefighters, some still dressed in Santa clause costumes from a nearby event, rushed to the scene where they found a flattened blue Buick.
The sisters were rushed to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in critical condition.
The most seriously injured was the 82-year-old front passenger. She was flown to the trauma unit at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
The Sisters' order, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth released this statement late Monday:
"To protect the Sisters' privacy and to allow them undisturbed time to focus on healing, we are not yet releasing their names or information regarding their injuries."
All the nuns live and minister in and around Philadelphia.
Chief Sharpe says this is not a stretch of road prone to crashes and at a time when seconds stood between immediate life or death, Sharpe is thankful for the compassion and quick response of firefighters and passerby.
"There were four witnesses who called it in and stayed on the scene. One was a former firefighter who stopped to help," said Chief Sharpe.
Authorities are still investigating the cause and have not ruled out criminal charges.