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TOOELE — A rollover accident in a remote section of Tooele County ejected a man and woman from the pickup truck they were in and injured the two other occupants in the vehicle.
The late Saturday or early Sunday crash went undetected for five or six hours, according to Tooele County sheriff's deputy Keith Borders, until a passerby saw the crash and alerted police at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Borders said the foursome, all between 18 and 22 years old, were in a pickup truck on the dirt Pony Express Road in Rush Valley when the truck veered right, overcorrected and ultimately flipped.
A man and woman were ejected out the back window, while the other couple were trapped inside the cab. The pair who were ejected managed to pull themselves into the bed of the pickup truck.
One of the men thrown from the truck walked about a mile in both directs trying to get cell phone service, but was unable to do so, Borders said.
A man and woman were flown to Intermountain Medical Center, another woman was flown to the University Hospital and a man was taken by ambulance to an area hospital.
Borders said the accident victims had cellphones they could have used to call for help, but did not. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but Borders said investigators suspect alcohol may have been a factor given the amount of beer cans strewn about the crash site. Police said too much time had passed to take toxicology reports from the victims.
Officials said the victims may not have been discovered for days if the accident had happened during the week, when campers are far less likely to be in the area.
"They were really lucky and if they are OK, I think they'll think twice about going out at night in the middle of nowhere," said Erin Baumgart with the Terra Fire Department.