Driver ejected, killed in rollover in Iron County

Responders work to haul pickup truck up from ravine following a rollover on Kanarra Mountain Road that killed the driver, Iron County, Utah, March 15, 2020 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff's Office, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A woman died Thursday evening after being thrown from her pickup truck when it went over the edge of a steep ravine in Iron County.

Map of Kanarra Mountain Road in Iron County where a driver was killed in a single-vehicle rollover, Iron County, Utah, Oct. 15, 2020 | Photo courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News

Emergency personnel responded to Kanarra Mountain Road in Iron County, several miles east of Old Highway 91, on a single-vehicle crash involving a pickup truck shortly after 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Iron County Sheriff Ken Carpenter told St. George News Friday morning.

Responders arrived to find the pickup truck down a steep embankment more than 150 feet below the roadway. The driver was found outside of the vehicle on the side of the steep cliff and was pronounced dead at the scene.

At the time of the incident, the woman was heading west on Kanarra Mountain Road when the sun likely blinded her for a moment, Carpenter said, just as the pickup was approaching a sharp curve in the road. Authorities have reason to believe that instead of negotiating the curve, which she was unable to see with the sun’s glare in her eyes, she continued straight ahead and went off the side of the steep embankment.

Once the pickup went over the edge, Carpenter said, it dropped about 60 feet and struck a large boulder with such force that it caused the driver’s side door to pop open. The driver, who was unrestrained, was then thrown from the pickup. The truck started to roll once it hit the boulder, and then continued down the hill for another 90 feet or so until it came to rest in an upright position.

“Once that pickup struck the boulder and the driver’s side door opened, the driver was ejected out the open door and was killed,” Carpenter said.

Responders remained at the scene for several hours and the pickup was pulled up the side of the cliff and towed from the roadway.

The identity of the driver has not been released and no further details were available at the writing of this report.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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