Latest: Authorities were searching for driver who hit bikers

COOPER TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The Latest on a collision between a pickup truck and group of bicyclists in western Michigan (all times local):

11 p.m.

Authorities were searching for the driver of a blue pickup truck in the minutes before he plowed into a group of adults bicycling near a western Michigan Park.

Kalamazoo Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting said at a news conference Tuesday night that five of the nine bicyclists struck were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash in Cooper Township.

Getting says the calls made to several area agencies were “over concerns” about the pickup driver’s driving. He says authorities were searching for the driver, but there was no active pursuit at the time of the accident.

The driver is described as a 50-year-old from western Michigan. He was arrested not far from where the damaged pickup stopped.

The names and ages of the victims weren’t released. The riders who survived suffered serious injuries. None of the victims are children, as an official had said earlier.

Getting says the bicyclists were riding as a group.

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10:15 p.m.

A fire official has confirmed at least five people were killed after the driver of a pickup truck plowed into a group of bicyclists along a street in western Michigan.

Cooper Township Fire Chief Terry Emig tells WZZM-TV Tuesday night at least five of the people struck have died.

The group was hit earlier in the evening near a park in the Kalamazoo area, south of Grand Rapids.

Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas tells local media at least eight people were hit, and some of those were children. He says the driver struck the bicyclists and fled on foot but was later arrested.

The Associated Press left messages seeking comment from Matyas and Emig.

No further details were immediately available. A news conference was scheduled for late Tuesday night.