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MAGNA -- A crash on State Road 201 killed six people, including four children, early Saturday morning.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, the driver of a Dodge Stratus was headed south on State Road 202 around 1 a.m. The driver pulled into an intersection to make a left turn onto SR-201, and was T-boned by a Mercury Sable.
Sgt. Jeff Nigbur of the Utah Department of Public Safety said, "Whether the vehicle coming from 202 turned out in front of the other vehicle or what happened -- we don't know, and that's something we're trying to get to the bottom of."
The impact knocked the Stratus into the left hand lanes. The Sable came to rest in the center of the road.
Two young women, who were thrown from the Stratus, died at the scene. Two adults and a fourth juvenile also died at the scene.
A fifth young adult died en route to the hospital.
Troopers have identified the victims as Veronica Martinez, 35, Ricardo Ramirez, 29, Mercedes Candelario, 15, Veronica Ramirez, 7, Isabel Ramirez, 5, and Megan Foote, 15.
The sole survivor, 4-year-old Ricardo Ramiriez, was sitting on the passenger seat floor underneath the dashboard and was pulled from the car. He was taken by helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center in serious condition. He's expected to recover.
A father and son who were in the other vehicle were flown to University Medical Center with serious but not life-threatening injuries.
This is an extremely tragic accident, one of the worst I have seen in a long time.
–- Sgt. Jeff Nigbur, Utah Department of Public Safety
"This is an extremely tragic accident, one of the worst I have seen in a long time," said Nigbur.
Troopers aren't sure who was at fault, and say they are investigating all possibilities. "There's obviously a lot of lives involved in this, a lot of broken hearts that are going to happen in the next few hours," Nigbur said.
The crash forced the closure of SR-201 and SR-202 for about seven hours.
E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com
