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Authorities are still trying to figure out what caused a collision in Salt Lake County that critically injured four people. The crash happened on state Highway 111 near 7000 South Tuesday evening.
"It's a two-lane highway. It's not physically separated, the lanes, and people drive it at fairly high rates of speed out on this highway, so the potential for serious accidents is very high out here," said Lt. Don Hutson, spokesman for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office says around 5:30 p.m., a 19-year-old man driving southbound in a white Ford Mustang drifted into oncoming traffic. He slammed into a Jeep Cherokee carrying a 30-year-old husband and wife and their 5-year-old boy.
"We had witnesses that may have seen that the white Mustang driver may have been distracted a little bit at the time," Hutson said.
Deputies say the Mustang caught on fire, and someone who witnessed the accident was able to put the fire out.
"I think it's very important that the citizen involvement, in this particular case, because the gentleman who was driving the Mustang was trapped in the vehicle and had sustained some very serious injuries; and if the fire would not have been extinguished, it's hard to say what could have occurred," Hutson said.
The man in the Mustang had to be extricated. He was transported by helicopter to Intermountain Medical Center.
Despite serious damage to the Jeep, crews were quickly able to get the injured family members to nearby hospitals.
The couple's 5-year-old child was taken by ambulance to Pioneer Valley Hospital, then flown to Primary Children's Hospital.
"All of them sustained potentially life-threatening injuries," Hutson said.
Deputies are not releasing the names of anybody involved. Right now, they're focused on why the driver of the Mustang may have been distracted. They found no signs of drugs or alcohol in his car.
E-mail: wjohnson@ksl.com
