FARR WEST, Utah — A crash involving a car and a semi-truck in Farr West that happened in the early hours of Wednesday morning left three people dead and two with critical injuries.
The three who died were passengers in the backseat of a red Nissan Altima and were identified by officials as a 70-year-old Tira Hanchor and a 64-year-old Ekar Hanchor, both from Enid Oklahoma and a 17-year-old female from the Marshall Islands.
The name of the teen girl was not disclosed.
Just before 3 a.m., the Altima, with five people inside, was traveling in the left lane of I-15 when they hit a deer, Utah Highway Patrol reported.
"It appears we had a passenger vehicle hit a deer move to the right-hand lane," explained Lt. Justin Cheney with UHP. "[It] didn't have any lights on, I don't know if it was disabled or what - that's still part of our investigation."
A short time later, a white Freightliner semi approached the Altima and did not see it before slamming into the car from behind.
The driver and front seat passenger survived the crash and were taken to the hospital in critical condition with serious injuries, UHP reported.
The semi-truck driver was not majorly injured and is cooperating in the investigation, UHP reported. No impairment is suspected.
Due to the investigation, officials shut down the Northbound lanes of Interstate 15 at 2700 North. At 7 a.m., about four hours after the crash, I-15 was reopened for all traffic.
