ALBERT LEA, MINN. - The driver of a semitrailer that hit a minivan carrying three members of a Waterloo family Wednesday said he wasn't able to steer.

Randy Pedersen, 56, of Swaledale, Iowa, told the Albert Lea Tribune that the steering in his truck went out fractions of a second earlier when a passenger car slammed into his vehicle.

The crash killed Soubink, Bambi and Christi Khemphomma, all of Waterloo, who were in the van, and the driver of the passenger car, 62-year-old Gloria Anderson, of St. Charles, Ill.

Pedersen, the lone survivor of the wreck, wasn't injured.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, Anderson's car crossed the center line at about 2:37 p.m. Wednesday and hit Pederson's oncoming semi. The semi then crossed the line and hit the Khemphomma's van head on.

The accident happened on Interstate 90 near Albert Lea, Minn. Traffic on the interstate had been cut to two lanes because of road construction.

Soubink Khemphomma, 46, was the father of son Bambi, 13, and daughter Christi Khemphomma, 11.

The three will be laid to rest this weekend.

Services will be 1 p.m. Sunday at Hagarty-Waychoff Funeral Service on South Street.

Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home.

The family has asked that donations and memorials be sent to the home at 1626 Forest Ave.

Soubink Khemphomma had traveled to Mountain Lake, Minn., Wednesday to pick up the two children, who had been staying with relatives.

The crash happened on the way back to Waterloo.

The mother, Bouakham Khemphomma, and her 2-year-old daughter were at home in Waterloo during the wreck.

Bambi was a Bunger Middle School student, and Christi attended Lowell Elementary School.