SALINA, Sevier County — Four people were killed and one was injured in a rollover crash near Salina on Thursday morning that resulted in all five occupants being ejected.
All of the victims were members of the same family returning home to Omaha, Nebraska, after vacationing in California.
About 9 a.m., a Chevy Avalanche pickup truck traveling east on I-70 between Salina and Richfield rolled multiple times after veering left and overcorrecting to the right, said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce. None of the occupants were wearing seat belts, he said.
Teresa Lopez, 55, Carla S. Flores, 19, and Alexander E. Flores, 10 months, were all declared dead at the scene. The driver, Juan C. Flores, 46, was flown to Utah Valley Hospital in critical condition, where he died, Royce said.
Naila N. Flores, 18, was flown in critical condition by medical helicopter to University Hospital in Salt Lake City. She was in extremely critical condition Thursday afternoon and wasn't expected to survive, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Clay Morgan said.
The vehicle contained a husband, wife, two daughters and the young son of one of the daughters, Royce said.
Investigators were initially looking at fatigue as a possible factor in the crash. Morgan said the driver "possibly fell asleep." The family left California around 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to police.
"We’re about halfway from Denver to L.A. … so people push it through here," Morgan said of the central Utah stretch of freeway. "We try to get them to pull over. We have signs up saying, 'Don’t drive fatigued.' … But people still push the issue. And most of our wrecks on (I-70) here are a fatigue issue."
The crash likely would not have been so deadly if each of the family members were properly restrained, he said.
"From the looks of this vehicle, I’m guessing that all five of them probably would have survived if they had seat belts," Morgan said. "Seat belts, seat belts, seat belts. We’ve just got to figure how to get people to wear seat belts."
Contributing: Sam Penrod
Email: blockhart@deseretnews.com
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