An 83-year-old Twin Falls woman was in serious condition Thursday at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise after being flown there by Life Flight helicopter following a two-vehicle accident Wednesday on state Highway 75 north of Hailey.
The Blaine County Sheriff's Office reported that Wanda Glasmann sustained leg, hand and internal injuries and was in serious condition when she was airlifted.
Four other people were transported by ambulance to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center where they were treated and released.
Police from the sheriff's and Bellevue marshal's offices and emergency personnel from Wood River Fire and Rescue and the Ketchum Fire Department were called at 11:49 a.m. to the accident scene at the intersection of Highway 75 and Ohio Gulch Road.
North and southbound noontime traffic was delayed for a short time. Police set up emergency markers and provided traffic control through the area for more than an hour while the injured were cared for and debris was cleaned from the roadway.
The cause of the accident remained under investigation Thursday, but preliminary information was provided by the sheriff's office in a news release.
According to the report, the accident involved a silver 1999 Plymouth Neon driven by Glasmann and a gold 2005 Ford Explorer driven by Lucila Moya, a 35-year-old Bellevue woman. Passengers in the Moya vehicle were identified as Hailey residents Norma Sandoval, 38, Norma Aguayo, 34, and Enriqueta Salamanca, 33.
The sheriff's office reported that Moya was stopped on Ohio Gulch Road, waiting to turn south as a northbound semi truck approached Ohio Gulch Road in the eastbound turn lane. Moya, whose vision may have been obscured by the truck, then pulled onto the highway, saw the northbound Glasmann vehicle and "chose to drive straight forward, attempting to avoid a crash."
The sheriff's office reported that Glasmann, unfortunately, turned left, also attempting to avoid a collision. The Glasmann vehicle struck the driver's side of the Moya vehicle just behind the front wheel.
The Moya vehicle rolled and ended up on its top on the west side of the highway. The Glasmann vehicle remained in the intersection.
The sheriff's office reported that all five vehicle occupants "appeared to have been wearing seatbelts."
Anyone with information about the accident is asked to contact sheriff's Detective Mark Dalton at 788-5515.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Capt. Miles Canfield, a paramedic with the Ketchum Fire Department, assists an injured woman at the crash scene.
Photo by David N. Seelig
