MARROWBONE, Ky. — More than 3,000 mourners traveled by busload today to a funeral for nine Mennonites killed when a tractor-trailer struck a van in south-central Kentucky.

A former warehouse became a church during the memorial service for John and Sadie Esh, six other family members and the fiancee of one of their daughters.

The family's pastor, Leroy Kauffman, urged the audience to trust in God. He said he had faith the family did that when they saw the headlights of the tractor-trailer on Interstate 65 Friday morning as the van traveled to Iowa for a wedding.

"When the headlights shine through your windshield, what will your answer be?" he said.

Most of those in attendance were Mennonites or Amish. The women wore long black dresses with white bonnets, the men black suits without ties.

A preliminary investigation showed the tractor-trailer left the road and plowed over a cable barrier in the median before it struck the van. A cause has not yet been determined.

By The Associated Press