The Brownlee Road route was a shortcut, a quick way for residents and employees of a Washington County group home to reach the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium yesterday.

But around 10 a.m. at Brownlee and Route 136 in Somerset Township, Washington County, a spot where 15 accidents have occurred during the past five years, the field trip ended in a grinding collision that killed five people.

State police said witnesses told them the northbound van from the group home pulled into the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer, which had the right of way on the highway where the speed limit is 45 mph. The impact drove the 2002 Chevrolet van and the truck into the corner of an oil storage building, buckling the wall. It took officials five hours to remove bodies from the wreckage.

Three residents and two employees of the "enhanced personal care home" of the Mental Health Association of Washington County were killed. Six other residents and the driver of the tractor-trailer were injured.

A second association van carrying 13 residents and two staff members arrived at the zoo, unaware of the accident.

The two vans had left the association's twin facilities on Spring Street in Bentleyville about 9:45 a.m. Separated by traffic on Interstate 70, both took the Dunningsville Exit to reach Brownlee Road, which leads to Route 519. From there, they could reach Interstate 79 near Canonsburg and avoid heavy interstate traffic around Washington.

The Washington County coroner's office identified the victims as the van driver, Sheryl Maiolini, 53, of Charleroi; staff member Mary E. Watkins, 43, of Ellsworth; and residents John Maise, 61, Richard Paquet, 43, and Julie Hugus, 41, all of Bentleyville.

Residents Duane Bell, 48, and Norma Tellman, 52, both of Bentleyville, were in stable condition after being flown to UPMC Presbyterian. Dana Guiley, 54, of Clarksville, was in serious condition at UPMC Mercy.

Two residents were treated and released from Canonsburg General Hospital and another was taken to UPMC Presbyterian.

The truck driver, Stephen Rouse, 44, of Urichsville, Ohio, was treated and released from Canonsburg General. He was driving a truck operated by Stocker Trucking Co. of Gnadenhutten, Ohio.

The company has been involved in one other fatal accident and three other accidents involving injuries in the past 24 months, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records. As of Jan. 30, the company had a satisfactory safety rating, according to department records.

Autopsies on the victims began yesterday. Coroner S. Timothy Warco, however, said he believed all five died of blunt force trauma.

The victims were from the mental health association's enhanced personal care home, a residential facility for 12 that provides assistance with daily living tasks such as psychiatric rehabilitation, socialization, money management, supervision of self-administered medicines and transportation.

"They were gentle, sweet folks," said Lynne Loresch, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Washington County. The staff members were both five-year veterans who had supervised previous outings.

The residents and staff in the second van were from the association's second Spring Street building, a locked "long-term structured residence" for those with more intensive needs.

Though the association had operated other homes in the borough since 1992, some residents opposed construction of the two new buildings on a well-landscaped nine-acre plot on Spring Street in a residential area. They replaced the old ones on Main Street.

But Ms. Loresch said the community ended up embracing the residents, who made friends as they walked nearby streets and visited the Sunoco convenience store, the library and the senior citizens center, where they sometimes played bingo.

She said her remaining staff and residents would cope as a family.

Janice Taper, administrator of Washington County Mental Health/Mental Retardation, a county agency that coordinates social services, said residents quickly would have picked up on a flurry of phone calls and other unusual activity yesterday morning. In such situations, she said, the bad news would be delivered directly but with "kindness and empathy," with officials making certain to "be there for them for whatever they need right after that."

As news of the tragedy spread, expressions of sympathy from the community rolled in.

A handwritten sign posted on the door of the Sunoco store said: "The terrible accident that occurred today involved many of our customers that would greet you daily or just wish you a good day. Please pray for our injured friends as well as our deceased ones as they try to cope with this tragedy."

Sunoco employee Carleen Jones said some of the residents stopped twice daily for snacks and often lingered to chat with employees and customers.

"They spoke to every single person," she said.

Ms. Jones said she knows many of the residents by name. She described one as intelligent enough to be on "Jeopardy!" and said another once worked in a steel mill and two were Vietnam War veterans.

Mayor Tom Brown called the accident a "blow to the borough of Bentleyville."

"I just want everybody to know they were neighbors, and they were good neighbors," he said.