Date: December 23, 2014
Contact: Kathleen Kelly, (907) 683-9504
Denali National Park and Preserve rangers responded yesterday to a head-on vehicle accident involving two vehicles and resulting in the deaths of both drivers. There were no passengers in either vehicle.
Park rangers arrived on the scene, near milepost 236 on the George Parks Highway, and found both vehicles engulfed in flames. The accident involved a pick-up truck traveling south and a sport utility vehicle heading north on the two-lane highway. The National Park Service (NPS) received a 911 call reporting the accident at 10:08 a.m., park rangers and an Alaska state trooper arrived on the scene at approximately 10:22 a.m.
The highway was closed for most of the day, a state Department of Transportation vehicle piloted motorist through the accident site periodically, and the highway reopened just before 10:30 p.m.
Because the crash occurred within park boundaries and on federal land, the NPS is leading the investigation with assistance from the Alaska State Troopers investigative unit which is based in Fairbanks.
The cause of the accident is unknown at this time. The identity of neither victim will be released until the state medical examiner can make a positive identification.
