21-Year-Old Eugene Driver Killed in Head-On Crash on Highway 97
A northbound car crossed into the opposite lane Saturday night and collided with a semi-truck near milepost 200 in Klamath County.
AT A GLANCE
Crash: Head-on collision Saturday night on Highway 97 near milepost 200.
Fatality: Elias Keyin Sorenson, 21, of Eugene, died at the scene.
Other driver: A 64-year-old California man suffered minor injuries.
Investigation: OSP says the Honda crossed into the southbound lane for unknown reasons.
Traffic: Highway 97 was impacted for approximately five hours.
KLAMATH COUNTY, Ore. — A 21-year-old Eugene man was killed Saturday night when his car crossed into oncoming traffic on Highway 97 and collided head-on with a semi-truck in northern Klamath County.
Oregon State Police identified the driver as Elias Keyin Sorenson.
The crash happened around 8:50 p.m. Sept. 5 near milepost 200.
According to OSP’s preliminary investigation, Sorenson was driving a black Honda two-door sedan north on Highway 97 when, for reasons that remain unknown, the car crossed into the southbound lane.
It collided head-on with a white Volvo semi-truck pulling a 53-foot trailer.
Sorenson died at the scene.
The semi-truck driver, 64-year-old Jose Luis Sotelo-Monge of Tulare, California, suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
Highway closed five hours
The collision and investigation disrupted traffic on one of the region’s primary north-south highways for approximately five hours.
OSP’s Collision Reconstruction Unit investigates fatal and other critical injury crashes on Oregon highways, using specialized reconstruction techniques to document and determine how collisions occurred.
Police have not said what may have caused Sorenson’s Honda to cross into the opposite lane.
Chemult Rural Fire Protection District, Crescent Fire District, and the Oregon Department of Transportation assisted OSP at the scene.
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