Kinison said to no one in particular at the time: “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.” But then there was a pause as if Kinison were listening to someone. Then he asked, “But why?”, and after another pause, “Okay, okay, okay.” A friend who was with him said, “Whatever voice was talking to him gave him the right answer and he just relaxed with it.” Efforts to resuscitate him failed and Kinison died at the scene from internal injuries. An autopsy found that he had suffered numerous traumatic injuries, including a dislocation in the cervical spine, a torn aorta, and torn blood vessels in his abdominal cavity, which caused his death within minutes of the collision. Malika Souiri, Kinison's wife, whom he had married six days earlier and was wearing a seat belt, was rendered unconscious by the collision, but survived the accident with a mild concussion.