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Woman, unborn baby killed in car crash
A woman and her unborn 5-month-old baby were killed while three other occupants of a Toyota Sienna van were injured when the vehicle they were riding crashed into a power pole along As Perdido Road on Sunday morning.
Traffic investigators determined that speed was the major cause of the crash, according to Department of Public Safety police spokesman Travis Hurst yesterday.
Hurst said initial reports indicate the van was en route to Sunday church services.
DPS firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life tool to extract the victims who were trapped inside the van.
Hurst said the victims’ names are not being released at this time.
He said the fatality, a 36-year-old Chinese national, suffered severe head trauma.
The driver, a 58-year-old Korean male, sustained a bruised left eye and a fractured jaw.
The other passengers were a 30-year-old Chinese woman, who complained of pain on the left hip, and a 2-year-old Chinese boy who sustained a fractured left femur and abrasions on the head and shoulder.
Police investigation showed that DPS Central dispatched police traffic units to a reported auto-ran off crash along As Perdido Road on Sunday at 11am.
Police Sgt. Anthony Macaranas arrived at the scene at 11:03am and saw a white Toyota Sienna van resting next to a Commonwealth Utilities Corp. power pole. The van had extensive damage on its driver’s side rear door.
The crash occurred on the eastbound shoulder of the road by the curve between William S. Reyes Elementary School and Department of Lands and Natural Resources-Agricultural Center.
Macaranas sought assistance from DPS Fire medics and traffic investigators after seeing the occupants trapped inside the van.
DPS Fire Rescue personnel removed all victims from the van by using a Jaws of Life tool and brought them to the Commonwealth Health Center.
“This case is still pending further investigation but speed was found to have been the major cause of this crash,” Hurst said.
The pregnant woman and her unborn baby are the first fatalities of a vehicular crash in the CNMI this year.
