CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — A snowplow driver lost control on westbound Interstate 70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel on Thursday morning, crashing into three vehicles, including a sprinter van carrying 10 people, Colorado State Patrol (CSP) reported. One person died.
The crash happened around 8:53 a.m. near the exit for Herman Gulch on the eastbound side of the highway.
The snowplow driver and drivers from the two initial two crashes were not injured, however eight were hospitalized from the sprinter van and its driver died at the scene. An adult passenger refused to go to a hospital.
The sprinter van was carrying a 12uAA girls hockey team from the SC Flyers, based in Santa Clarita, California, according to ABC News affiliate KABC. The team was in Colorado for a tournament that was supposed to start Friday.
"The Flyers are devastated to hear the news," the team president said in a statement to Denver7. "We are doing everything in our power to assist the team and it’s families in anyway we can. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of support we have received from the community and will continue to pray for the girls and their families."
Of the eight people injured in the van, five are minors and three are adults. As of 4:30 p.m., four of the injured children were discharged or soon-to-be discharged from the hospital.
Based on CSP's preliminary investigation, it determined that the CDOT snowplow driver was headed westbound on I-70 when they lost control, traveling through the median, breaking through the cable rail and crashing into the eastbound lanes. It collided with a Toyota Tacoma in the eastbound lanes, and the Toyota ended up crashing through the median and into a BMW in the westbound lanes.
The snowplow — which was still in the eastbound lanes — then struck the sprinter van, which was traveling east.
The van went down an embankment and the snowplow stopped on the shoulder, CSP said.
Of the eight people injured, seven were taken to an area hospital by ground ambulance, CSP said. The eighth hospitalized person — a minor — had critical injuries and was brought to a trauma center via a Flight for Life Colorado helicopter. An ambulance transported the child to the ball fields at Idaho Springs, where the helicopter crew was waiting, said Jenny Fulton with the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office.
Denver Health confirmed that as of noon, its staff was treating seven of the eight people who were injured. Four of those are children, the hospital said, and provided an update at 4:30 p.m. to say that those juveniles were either discharged or about to be discharged.
The other three people are adults, and two of them are in serious condition and the third is in fair condition, Denver Health said in the same update.
The people in the other two vehicles that were involved in the crash were not injured. They stayed at the scene, CSP said.
CSP is leading the crash investigation.
As of 3:20 p.m., the eastbound lanes of I-70 had started to reopen.
Before that, traffic was stopped at Silverthorne and drivers were turned around at the Eisenhower Tunnel, the sheriff's office said. Westbound I-70 had just one lane open initially but has reopened. Due to ice and poor driving conditions, drivers were told to avoid using Loveland Pass as an alternate route, if possible.
During the closure, Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber said the only detour is south on Highway 9 through Breckenridge to Fairplay. Then, drivers can take Highway 285 east back onto C-470 and west on C-470 back to I-70 in Morrison and Golden. Luber advised that south of Breckenridge, Highway 9 has several switchbacks and can be trickier to navigate, especially for large vehicles. The largest of semitrucks may want to wait it out, he suggested.
