CEDAR CITY – A Cedar City woman and her unborn daughter passed away Monday after the mother was involved in six-vehicle pileup on Interstate 15 over the weekend.
Bayley Huerta was six months pregnant when she was killed after her vehicle, a silver Volkswagen Jetta, became sandwiched between the rear of a white semitrailer and a red F-350 Ford truck. The crash occurred Saturday before noon on I-15 around milepost 140 near Cove Fort.
According to a news release from the Utah Highway Patrol, authorities initially thought the 22-year-old had been killed in the collision, but medical personnel found a pulse after removing her from the vehicle.
Intermountain Life Flight transported Huerta to the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo where she was reported at the time to be in extremely critical condition. She died Monday due to injuries from the crash.
Huerta’s sister was riding with her at the time and was also transported to the same medical center in poor condition.
A family friend sent up a GoFundMe page with details about Huerta and her husband, Fernando Saul Huerta. According to information posted there, the couple was moving back to Cache Valley from Cedar City to be closer to family when their baby girl, to be named Elenna Grace, was born next year.
The two attended Southern Utah University where Fernando Huerta was an offensive lineman for the Thunderbirds football team.
Saturday’s crash occurred after a minor crash involving a white semitrailer and a snow plow had stopped nearly all traffic to allow the two vehicles to move to the side of the road.
Authorities, however, believe a second yellow semitrailer failed to stop for the other vehicles and rear-ended the Ford truck, the news release states.
The driver of a white Chevrolet that was situated between the Ford truck and Huerta’s car saw the yellow semi coming and took evasive action, accelerating the vehicle into a ditch, according to the news release.
The Ford truck was pushed forward on top of the Jetta. The impact of that collision pushed the Jetta into the back of the first white semi at the front of the line.
The three individuals in the Ford were transported to Fillmore Hospital in fair to poor condition, while the driver of the yellow semi was transferred to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
Traffic was shut down on I-15 in the northbound lanes for about two hours Saturday.
UHP reported the roads had been covered with snow, but there was only minor ice in spots at the time of the crash. There were no pre-impact skid marks from the yellow semi. Everyone involved in the crash was wearing a seat belt at the time.
To donate: https://www.gofundme.com/huerta-family
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A 22-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed after being involved in a 6-car pileup crash over the weekend on I-15, Milepost 140, Utah, Dec. 17, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George / Cedar City News A 22-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed after being involved in a 6-car pileup crash over the weekend on I-15, Milepost 140, Utah, Dec. 17, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George / Cedar City News A 22-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed after being involved in a 6-car pileup crash over the weekend on I-15, Milepost 140, Utah, Dec. 17, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George / Cedar City News A 22-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed after being involved in a 6-car pileup crash over the weekend on I-15, Milepost 140, Utah, Dec. 17, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George / Cedar City News A 22-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed after being involved in a 6-car pileup crash over the weekend on I-15, Milepost 140, Utah, Dec. 17, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George / Cedar City News
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Twitter: @tracie_sullivan
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.
Terrible thing. Inattentive driving or what happened?
It’s always awful when a person dies in a vehicle accident because It always appears to the natural mind that it could have been prevented….Condolences to the family.
This is so sad and tragic R.I.P condolences to the family