TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A father is describing the death of his daughter, son-in-law and a grandchild in a head-on crash in northeast Kansas as “our worst nightmare come true.”

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Jay Pudenz released a statement Monday, one day after pickup truck crashed into the Basehor family’s minivan on U.S. 24 near Perry.   Friends have established a gofundme page here.

Thirty-five-year-old Travis Askew, 27-year-old Ashley Askew and 6-month-old Haley Askew were returning coming home from the Topeka Zoo when they were killed. Two other children — ages 5 and 3 — were hurt. The crash also killed the truck’s driver, 56-year-old Ronald Heston, of Oskaloosa.

Pudenz says Travis and Ashley were hard-working and loving parents, adding they made every decision on whether or not it would benefit their children. He plans to raise the surviving children.