Huntington Beach Woman Dies in Utah Car Crash
A 26-year-old Huntington Beach woman was killed when the vehicle she was riding in went off a scenic southern Utah road and crashed, National Park Service authorities said Monday.
Michelle Eckroth died of injuries suffered in the one-vehicle accident Sunday on the Burr Trail, about 40 miles north of the Utah-Arizona state line, said Karen Whitney, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area spokeswoman.
Suffering minor injuries in the accident were Michael Sterger, the driver, and Gina Sterger, both of Cypress, and Donald Dudrey, 30, of Garden Grove, Whitney said.
Investigating officers said the vehicle veered off the dirt road and struck an embankment and a large rock, throwing Eckroth from the back seat through the front windshield.
Eckroth was given emergency treatment, then flown by helicopter to a Page, Ariz., hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The other three people were treated and released, Whitney said.
Eckroth’s death was the fifth accidental fatality this year among visitors to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. She was the first to die in a traffic accident, Whitney said.
Three people, including two children, drowned, and one death was the result of a hiker falling from a cliff.
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