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SALT LAKE CITY - A fatal crash in Salt Lake City killed a man forced the closure of 700 East around 3400 South in both directions Thursday morning. Crews were able to pull a pregnant woman from her car, but they could not save her unborn baby.
Unified Police Department Lt. Don Hutson says the 31-year-old woman, who was 7 and a half months pregnant, was flown to University Hospital.
The woman's unborn child died shortly after she arrived at the hospital. Doctors now say she is listed in extremely critical condition.
It took rescue crews over an hour to get the woman out of her car.
"The engine, literally, in the Subaru displaced and was in her lap, so that's really what took all the time," Hutson said. "They were very concerned about her baby."
Hutson says the crash happened around 11 a.m. near 3400 South. Seventy-year-old Larry Vandeventer was driving a Cadillac south on 700 East when he suddenly veered across three lanes and slammed into the woman's Subaru head-on.
Vandeventer died at the scene. Police don't know what caused him to cross into oncoming traffic.
"We're not sure if there was some kind of medical condition or something," Hutson said. "There's no road there so he wasn't making a left turn."
People who live nearby heard the crash and came outside before crews arrived.
"We heard this loud, loud bang -- as loud as it could be," said Salt Lake resident Drew Whitehead. "I've heard car wrecks before, so I kind of assumed it was a car wreck kind of heard debris moving around."
"It was just the car," Leah Whitehead said. "The Cadillac was flipped upside down; the Subaru was just mangled."
Police say both drivers involved were wearing seat belts. Detectives will continue to investigate the accident.
E-mail: aforester@ksl.com
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