The Virgin River Gorge is gaining quite the reputation

2 killed, including 1 child, when Mustang crashes into semi just south of Utah-Arizona border

MOHAVE COUNTY — A driver and his adolescent son were killed Wednesday night in a crash on southbound Interstate 15 just south of the Utah-Arizona border. The driver’s 11-year-old daughter was transported to the hospital with injuries that authorities said were not life threatening.


Mustang slides under semitractor-trailer during crash on southbound Interstate 15 just south of the Utah-Arizona border, Mohave County, Ariz., Dec. 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News
Shortly before 10 p.m. MST, a battalion of fire engines, ambulances and officers responded to a two-vehicle crash just north of the Black Rock exit involving a black Ford Mustang and a semitractor-trailer. According to initial reports, the Mustang was underneath the semi and the three occupants were trapped in the car.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper Thomas Callister told St. George News the driver was killed in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene, while his 12-year-old son, who was sitting in the front seat, was trapped but initially still breathing. The 11-year-old girl riding in the backseat was also trapped in the mangled wreckage.

Unable to pull the Mustang from underneath the semi, fire crews worked for nearly 30 minutes cutting away the top of the vehicle, as well as two of the doors, to free the occupants. St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said as the young boy was lifted out of the vehicle, he stopped breathing.


Firefighters and paramedics initiated CPR on the child, efforts that continued for more than 40 minutes, but despite the life-saving measures the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Callister said the father and his two children had been heading south on the interstate from their home in Provo.


Previous to the crash, the semi had pulled off onto the shoulder area just north of the Black Rock exit near mile marker 27. The semi pulled onto the interstate and was traveling less than 10 mph when the Mustang slammed into the back of the trailer.

According to a witness who stopped and spoke to police, the trailer lights were not activated when the semi pulled out into traffic, and Callister said by the time the driver of the truck realized they were not on, “it was too late.”

Two other vehicles traveling behind the semi narrowly missed colliding with the truck.

Callister said the impact with the Mustang caused the rear guard on the semi, the steel bar that prevents a car from sliding underneath the trailer, to fail. Half of the bar was crushed underneath the truck, while the other half split off and was thrown several yards away. The crash also left a debris field of shattered glass and metal that extended more than 40 yards behind the crash.


Stoker said when the Mustang slid under the semi, the steel bar struck the driver and the front-seat passenger in the chest area, which likely contributed to the catastrophic injuries. The Mustang stopped short of the backseat as it slid under the truck, which spared the young girl from serious injury.

Following extrication, she was transported to St. George Regional Hospital. The semi driver was uninjured in the crash; however, Callister said the scene was one of the more tragic collisions he had responded to.

He said the Arizona Department of Public Safety is handling the ongoing investigation, and no further details were available at the scene. The identity of the two occupants killed in the crash was not released pending family notifications.

 

Woman dies following crash involving out-of-control semi in Virgin River Gorge on Christmas Eve

ST. GEORGE — A woman died after a crash involving an out-of-control semitractor-trailer early Friday morning on southbound Interstate 15 at the tail-end of the journey through the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona.

The three-vehicle crash, which took place just after midnight about 5 miles north of Littlefield, Arizona, near mile marker 14, involved a white passenger car with the female driver as its only occupant, a transport van and a semi.

Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire Department Chief Jeff Hunt told St. George News that the cab of the semi had broken loose of its trailer after it had gone out of control traveling over a bridge in the wet and rainy conditions. The semi rolled on its side and broke free of the trailer.

“The passenger car hit the wheels of the dolly that intruded well into the driver’s compartment,” Hunt said. “I was advised she had a fading pulse as I was heading in. I was able to go northbound in the southbound lanes to get directly to her, but on my arrival, she had no pulse or respiration with injuries nonconducive to life, so I pronounced her on my arrival.”

The transport van also collided with the two vehicles and had damage to one headlight but not much else, Hunt said.