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Accident
Reconstruction Network > Research >Guardrails > News Articles
Accident reconstruction research
3
die, 1 injured when their car breaks guardrail, falls into Sound
by Dave Birkland
Seattle Times staff reporter
Three people
died and a fourth was in critical condition today after their car
crashed through a steel railing and chain-link fence and plunged
60 feet into Puget Sound in Des Moines.
The vehicle
landed upside down in about 4 feet of water, the Des Moines Fire
Department reported.
Two men and
a woman, all believed to be in their 30s, were pronounced dead at
the crash site, which is the end of South 240th Street near Fifth
Avenue South.
A fourth person,
a woman, was critically injured and at Harborview Medical Center
this morning, a nursing supervisor said.
Des Moines
Fire Lt. Kevin Body said the car carrying the four was going west
toward the dead end but failed to turn. After hitting the guard
rail and fence, the car traveled about 60 feet before becoming airborne,
plunging nose-first off a steep embankment. The car landed on its
roof in the shallow water.
Someone heard
the crash and called authorities at 2:53 a.m., Body said.
All four victims
were in the car when rescue crews arrived, Body said. Medics were
able to get the surviving woman out, onto a boat and to the Des
Moines Marina, where she was attended by medics before being taken
to the hospital, Body said. Crews got the other three out, but they
were pronounced dead.
There apparently
were no witnesses to the crash. It's not known how fast the car
was going when it went off the road.
Body said there
have been no other accidents at the location for a long time.
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