[1]Responders on the scene at southbound Interstate 5. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Updated
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Two people in a Ford Focus were airlifted after their car was sandwiched in between a pair of vehicles in a rear-end collision Interstate 5 south of Chehalis yesterday.
Troopers called to the southbound lanes near milepost 70 just after 1 p.m. found all three vehicles were totaled, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The Ford Focus, occupied by a driver from Hillsboro, Oregon and a passenger from Seattle, was stopped behind a pickup truck for traffic when 21-year-old Ashley M. Smith from Centralia rear ended them, according to the state patrol.
Smith was driving a Honda Civic and was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with unspecified injuries, the investigating trooper reports. Her passenger Jordan C. Smith, 24, was reportedly unhurt.
The driver of the pickup was reportedly also uninjured..
LifeFlight flew Jody M. Bagnariol, 63, and Elisabeth R. Rudolph, 50, to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, according to the state patrol.
The collision is under investigation.
Update: Both occupants of the Ford Focus subsequently died at the hospital, according to the state patrol.