Four elderly women were killed in a car accident Saturday while driving home from a church supper in Chatham, Ont.

The women died after a northbound minivan, a 1993 Mercury Villager, crossed the centre line and crashed into their 2003 Ford Focus.

"They had to be pried out of the vehicle," Chatham-Kent Police Staff Sgt. Brian Biskey told CTV Southwestern Ontario.

Three of the women died at the scene of the crash and the fourth while on the way to hospital.

"It's a windy road but it's a 50 kilometre-an-hour zone," said Biskey. "Typically we don't have any problems on that stretch of roadway."

Police believe alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

The minivan's driver, a 47-year-old Chatham man, has been transferred to a hospital in London and his condition downgraded to critical. Officials said he had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Two of the victims were sisters -- Verna Neaves, 82, and Bernice Phillips, 83.

Together, Neaves and Phillips leave behind four children, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

The other two women have not been identified.

The Globe and Mail reports that the women were known as the "pie ladies" because they were part of a group that gathered at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Chatham to make pies -- which were extremely popular with locals.

A funeral for the sisters is set for Wednesday in Chatham.