One killed, two injured in three-car crash UPDATED

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.

Maritess Demoret, 31, of Gasquet, Calif., was pronounced dead at the scene after her Toyota Tacoma pickup was stuck head-on by an oncoming Dodge Ram pickup.

Harold Bickley, 76, and Gloria Bickley, 74, of Chico, Calif. were transported by ambulance to Sutter Coast Hospital for treatment, according to the Oregon State Police. Harold was later flown by Cal-Ore Life Flight air ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg for treatment of serious injuries. Gloria's injuries are considered minor.

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

The accident began when the Bickley's northbound white Dodge Ram pickup attempted to pass a car in a no-passing zone on front of the weigh station, according to witness Marcelina Muro, of Brookings.

Muro, who was driving behind one of the vehicles involved in the accident, said she saw the truck try to return to the northbound lane to avoid Demoret's oncoming southbound Tacoma.

According to the OSP, the two pickups collided head-on.

The Tacoma 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 car.”

A southbound Ford Thunderbird veered onto the right shoulder to avoid the truck and came to rest against the bushes. The driver of that car, Noemi Hernandez, 31, of Crescent City, walked away without injuries, according to the OSP.

The damage to the Tacoma was so complete that the make and model of the vehcile 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.

OSP troopers, the Coos County Medical Examiner, Curry County Sheriffs Office, Brookings Police Department, 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.