Double fatal crash clogs main road to Las Vegas

A suspected runaway truck crashed into two vehicles, resulting in a double fatal crash on State Route 160 on Monday.

The crash east of Mountain Springs closed down the roadway between Pahrump and Las Vegas for about two hours between the Blue Diamond Road intersection and west just before mile marker 18. After that, an alternating traffic pattern, where southbound traffic was allowed through for a few minutes, then the northbound traffic was let through the area while the investigation and cleanup took place.

However, Nevada Highway Patrol encouraged travelers to find alternate routes until both travel lanes were open 12-and-a-half hours later at 12:33 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The Nevada Department of Transportation said a fully-loaded 10-wheeler dump truck carrying concrete chunks and Bobcat skid steer on a trailer, experienced a brake failure causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle while traveling southbound on SR-160.

The out-of-control dump truck crashed into a blue Saturn sedan near mile marker 18, sending the vehicle off the road to the right. The female driver of that vehicle had non-life threatening injuries and was transported to UMC, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.

“No overturn or anything like that, it just went off the roadway,” said NHP trooper Jason Buratczuk.

After the initial crash, the dump truck continued southbound on SR-160 and then struck a camper trailer near mile marker 15, killing the two occupants of the camper, according to the NHP.

“The crash caused both vehicles to go off the roadway to the right, the dump truck ended up on its left side,” Buratczuk said. “The male and female passenger of the RV were both pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Both occupants of the RV were from Germany. The male passenger was 78 years old, while the female was 72 years old. The identity of the deceased parties will be released by the Clark County Coroners Office once next of kin are notified.

The driver of the 10-wheeler suffered only minor cuts and bruises in the crash, but was taken to a hospital for precautionary measures.

NDOT said that the 10-wheeler involved in the crash was not part of its $16.5 million widening project that is ongoing in the area. The project, which will expand the highway from two lanes to four travel lanes from Red Rock Canyon Road to mile marker 16.63, is still on schedule for completion in early 2017.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.