Collision, rollover kill 4 Utahns

SOUTH SALT LAKE — Two accidents Thursday claimed four lives and left other victims in serious to extremely critical condition.

A woman was fighting for her life Thursday night after losing her unborn child following a violent two-car collision that also killed the man whose car had crossed over the dividing line and into her lane.

The 31-year-old woman was 71/2 months pregnant and was trapped in her destroyed vehicle for more than an hour after the crash.

"The engine literally ended up on her lap," Unified Police Lt. Don Hutson said.

The woman was flown to a local hospital and listed in extremely critical condition with "extreme internal trauma and lower extremity trauma," Hutson said.

The collision happened just before 11 a.m., on 700 East near 3400 South. Larry Vandeventer, 70, was driving south on 700 East when he slowly started to drift into oncoming traffic, Hutson said.

He drifted all the way into the outer northbound lanes, where he hit the woman's vehicle head-on. "There was no attempt whatsoever to brake," Hutson said.

The woman apparently had very little, if any, time to brake, he said.

It was unknown Thursday afternoon why the first car drifted into oncoming traffic. Witnesses told investigators the man's head was still upright just prior to the accident, Hutson said. The man's car rolled due to the collision. He was declared dead at the scene.

The woman was wearing a seat belt, and the air bags in her car deployed. But the impact of the crash sent her car's engine into her seat, Hutson said.

"The air bags and seat belts protected her to a certain degree," he said.

Rescue crews from South Salt Lake Fire Department, the Unified Fire Authority and Salt Lake City Fire Department needed more than an hour to extricate the woman. She was conscious during the entire rescue, Hutson said.

A separate accident led to the deaths of two Price women traveling on U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon.

Traffic on the highway had piled up for three miles in each direction after a 10:30 a.m. accident at mile marker 181 that led to one person being flown to a hospital in critical condition, Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Al Christianson said. That woman was still alive Thursday night.

About 80 minutes later, a white Jeep came upon the stopped traffic from the earlier crash, traveling too fast to stop, Christianson said.