State police says three people died and 11 were seriously injured in a car accident on the state thruway in Tuxedo Saturday morning.

According to Peter Gioia, an EMT worker with Woodbury Community Ambulance, the crash happened just before 5 a.m. when a van traveling south with 14 women inside veered off I-87 onto the grassy center median and struck a concrete pillar head on.

Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, two were airlifted to Westchester Medical Center, and nine others who were seriously injured were taken by ambulances to local hospitals.

Gioia says all the passengers were dressed in party attire, but it is still unknown where the group was coming from or heading to.

State police continue to investigate the accident. They have not mentioned whether alcohol may have played a role in the crash.