Ga. Church Van Flips, Killing 4 and Injuring 15

A church van overturned and flipped multiple times after blowing a tire on a southwest Georgia highway, killing four people, authorities said.

Fifteen others were injured in the Sunday crash, police said.

The van carrying a church group from Columbus was on its way to Florida when a rear tire blew out.

In an e-mail to CBS Affiliate WGCL, Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said that the van rolled over on a highway south of Blakely in Early County on Sunday.

The vehicle hit the median and flipped several times, ejecting some of the passengers.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

CBS Affiliate WRBL reports at least seven patients from the wreck were airlifted to hospitals in Dothan, Ala., and Tallahassee.

Early County Coroner Todd Hunter declined to release names or ages of the victims. Some of the victims were reportedly young children.

The 1987 Dodge Ram Wagon van, with an intended capacity of 15 passengers, was from the Tabernacle of Prayer and Deliverance in Columbus, Wright said. A phone listing for the church was disconnected.

Wright didn't immediately respond to an e-mailed request for further information on the severity of the survivors' injuries, but said some were taken to area hospitals.