Two people were killed and two others were rushed to hospital following a violent overnight crash on State Route 18 near Seattle, in a case that has kept a major stretch of the highway closed for hours. The crash unfolded in the westbound lanes as the road approaches the ramps onto Interstate 5, and Washington State Patrol investigators described it as one of the more serious wrecks they have dealt with in recent memory.
According to the Washington State Patrol, the sequence began at around one in the morning, when a trooper stationed not far from the scene saw a car speeding past at about 130 miles per hour. The trooper also noticed that the vehicle was moving erratically, weaving in and out of different lanes, near the point where State Route 167 connects with State Route 18.
The trooper was able to catch up with the car as it continued from that junction toward the area where drivers can access Interstate 5. It was along this stretch, just before the I-5 ramps, that the situation turned deadly, with the speeding sedan ultimately losing control and striking the safety barrier at the edge of the roadway.
When the car hit the guardrail, a piece of the barrier broke off and landed on another section of guardrail nearby, illustrating the force of the impact. Inside the vehicle, two of the occupants were killed, while two other people were ejected from the sedan during the crash and were transported to hospital, where their conditions had not been released.
Investigators indicated that the two people thrown from the car apparently had not been wearing their seatbelts, which may help explain how they came to be ejected. Authorities stressed, however, that this was part of an initial assessment and that the detail was still being confirmed as troopers worked through the evidence at the scene.
The trooper who spoke about the case said it ranked among the most serious crashes he had encountered across many years with the Washington State Patrol. The scene was described as large and complicated, requiring a lengthy and careful process to document and clear before the roadway could be reopened to traffic.
As a result, westbound State Route 18 was shut down near the off-ramps to Interstate 5, with traffic being diverted away from the closure and routed along Weyerhaeuser Way to reach I-5. Officials said they hoped to reopen at least one lane to keep vehicles moving, but warned that the area was likely to remain closed for several hours while the investigation continued.