EASTON – Three women were killed early Sunday when a hillside gave way along I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass and crushed their car.
A large section of rock fell in the westbound lanes just after 1 a.m., State Patrol trooper Kelly Spangler said. The road was closed near Easton, about 70 miles southeast of Seattle, until about 2:30 p.m.
The names of the women – all 28 years old – were not being released because their families had not been notified, the patrol said at midafternoon. Two of the women were from Bothell and Lynnwood, north of Seattle, and the third was from Castle Rock, near Longview, about 150 miles south of the city near the Oregon border.
Investigators believe the slide may have been triggered by recent rainfall.
Department of Transportation engineers worked to stabilize the hillside about 2 miles west of the pass.
Associated Press
Pateros: Okanogan fire nearly contained
Crews on Sunday were close to completing lines around a wildfire burning in northcentral Washington.
The Squaw Creek fire, about eight miles northwest of town, was 90 percent contained at 1,100 acres Sunday, according to the Washington Interagency Incident Management Team assigned to the fire.
More than 440 firefighters are assigned to the fire. They focused Sunday on putting out hot spots and mopping up around the fire’s perimeter.
No injuries had been reported.
One unoccupied residence was destroyed.
The cause remained under investigation, although it was believed to have been caused by a person. The fire started Thursday in mountainous terrain, grass, brush and orchards on private land.
Associated Press
Yakima: Authorities try to identify remains
Authorities are working to identify the skeletal remains of two people found in the wreckage of a single-engine aircraft that crashed near Satus Pass more than 20 years ago, Klickitat County Coroner Tim O’Neill says.
Newspaper accounts of the time said two men – Max Schaffer, 59, and Eugene Goodrow, 54 – were on board. Their hometowns were not reported.
They left the Winthrop Inter-City Airport en route to Long Beach, Calif., stopping to refuel at Yakima, according to National Transportation Safety Board records. After the plane left Yakima at midday Jan. 8, 1983, the Yakima tower warned of icy conditions and turbulence, said NTSB investigator Tom Little.
The downed 1959 Bellenca was found Sept. 30 by tribal workers installing telecommunications equipment in a remote and heavily forested area of the Yakama reservation about 15 miles north of Goldendale. The wreckage was spread over 200 feet.
Associated Press
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