Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SPANISH FORK — A fiery accident involving a car and a semitruck in Spanish Fork Canyon left one person dead Friday night.
A vehicle was heading eastbound on U.S. 6 when the driver crossed into the lane of an oncoming Savage semitruck. The car crashed into the semitruck near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon around 6:55 p.m., according to Utah Department of Public Safety officer Joe Dougherty. The accident occurred near the windmills on U.S. 6.
The driver of the car was ejected and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the semi was knocked unconscious in the accident and was pulled from the semitruck by witnesses. The semitruck driver was transported to a local hospital.
The impact of the accident caused the semitruck and two coal trailers to jacknife in the road. The semitrailers tipped over and spilled coal into the road. A fire briefly resulted, but by 7:45 p.m. both the truck and the car were smoldering. Crews from the Spanish Fork Fire Department doused the flames quickly, and the fire did not spread to the coal.
This stretch of U.S. 6 has earned a reputation as being a deadly road, but in recent years UDOT has spent millions of dollars making safety improvements. However, the area of the crash has only a single lane in each direction.
UDOT crews helped to clear all of the coal that spilled out of the trailers Friday night. Officials reported that U.S. would be closed until midnight.
The name of the victim has not been released pending notification of family.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Contributing: McKenzie Romero
