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MANTUA, Box Elder County — Two people were seriously injured after a crash on U.S. 89 near the Box Elder and Cache county line Friday morning, authorities said.
Emergency crews responded to a report of the crash shortly before 9 a.m., Utah Highway Patrol troopers said.
A 19-year-old woman driving a blue 2011 Subaru Impreza was traveling south on the highway when she lost control of the vehicle. The Impreza drifted toward the median before it spun and slid across the median toward northbound lanes. It was then struck by a black 2004 GMC Yukon traveling in one of those lanes, officials said.
The woman, whose name wasn't released, was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown into the back seat of her vehicle during the crash, UHP officials said. She was taken to Brigham City Community Hospital before she was transferred to Ogden Regional Medical Center.
Authorities initially said she was critically injured, but she has since been upgraded to serious but stable condition.
UHP said a 45-year-old man driving the Yukon was wearing a seat belt. It took crews about 40 minutes to extricate him from the vehicle, officials added. That driver was reported to be in serious condition.
The crash remains under investigation, but officials said they are looking at speed as a factor in the crash. Witnesses told troopers the driver of the Impreza was driving "above the posted speed limit of 65 mph on slushy roads" before she lost control of the vehicle.
U.S. 89 was briefly closed in Sardine Canyon for about 45 minutes because the crash blocked the highway, troopers said. Crews were eventually able to open one lane to alternating traffic.
It was cleared by 11 a.m., Utah Department of Transportation officials said.
Editor's note: UHP originally said the woman was driving a Nissan Sentra. The story has been updated to show that according to UHP, she was actually driving a Subaru Impreza.
