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THAYNE, Wyoming — Three Utahns, reportedly headed to a family reunion in Wyoming, were killed and a fourth hospitalized in a violent head-on collision on U.S. 89 Wednesday.
About 1:40 p.m., a 66-year-old woman from Salt Lake City was driving a car along U.S. 89 about one mile outside of Thayne when her vehicle drifted into oncoming traffic for an unknown reason, according to a statement from the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
An 18-year-old man driving a pickup truck saw the vehicle headed directly toward him and "took evasive action" to avoid a collision, authorities said. The teen drove in the opposite lane of travel in an effort to avoid an accident.
At the last moment, however, the woman in the first car tried to get back into her own lane, over-corrected, and hit the pickup head-on, according to Wyoming authorities. The front of the pickup ended up on top of the front portion of the Toyota Camry.
Diane K.Duncan, 66, of Salt Lake City and Milton D. Butler, 80, of Salt Lake City were killed instantly. Mackenzie A. Christensen, 16, of Sandy, was taken to a hospital in Afton, Wyo., where she later died. Bryson Duncan, 14, of South Jordan, was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center. His condition was not immediately known Thursday. All four were wearing seat belts.
The driver and two passengers of the pickup, all between the age of 18 and 20 and from Smoot, Star Valley and Thayne, Wyo., were treated at a local hospital and released.
U.S. 89 was closed for about 4 ½ hours in that area while crews attended to the accident.
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