One killed, two injured in three-car crash

Emergency crews come to the aid of the driver involved in a fatal accident in Harbor Friday afternoon. The Pilot/Arwyn Rice

One person died and two  were severely injured in a three-car accident on Highway 101 near the Oregon Department of Transportation weigh station at about 4:40 p.m. Friday.

Southbound traffic was halted for several hours while northbound traffic was rerouted through the weigh station while emergency crews worked.

As of 11:30 p.m. Friday, the Oregon State Police had not yet released the identities of the four individuals involved in the accident, or more details about how it happened.

The driver of a northbound white Dodge Ram pickup attempted to pass a car in a no-passing zone when a green Ford passenger car appeared coming southbound, according to witness Marcelina Muro, of Brookings.

Muro, who was driving northbound behind the Dodge, said she saw the truck try to return to the northbound lane and, in doing so, clipped the car it had been attempting to pass. That car flipped over and rolled three times, landing upside down, Muro said.

“It was one reaction after another,” Muro said. “The white truck hit and totaled the (northbound) car.”

The southbound Ford vehicle veered onto the right shoulder to avoid the truck and came to rest against the bushes. The driver of that car walked away without injuries.

The damage to the overturned car was so complete that the make and model of the California-licensed car were not immediately apparent.

At one point the car caught fire, and Muro called out for a fire extinguisher.

“Someone came out of nowhere with an extinguisher,” she said.

Once the fire was out, Muro went to assist the driver in the overturned car. “I told her to hang on for me.”

Curry County sheriff’s deputies, Oregon State police, Harbor Volunteer Fire Department and Brookings Volunteer Fire Department, as well as three Cal-Ore ambulances, responded to the accident.

The driver and a passenger in the pickup were transported to Sutter Coast Hospital. Their conditions were not available late Friday night.

Emergency personnel eventually removed the body in the unidentified vehicle. 

OSP troopers and the Curry County District Attorney worked at the scene until well after dark, investigating the cause of the accident. Both lanes of the highway were open as of 11 p.m.

Check www.currypilot.com this weekend for an update.