One person is dead and three others — including two young children — were seriously injured Tuesday afternoon after an SUV plummeted roughly 100 feet off a Northern California highway into a river below.
The crash unfolded around 4 p.m. along the eastbound lanes of Highway 50 near Ice House Road in El Dorado County, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Placerville office.
A 2024 Hyundai SUV carrying four people from Tracy, California, went off the roadway and plunged down a steep embankment into the South Fork of the American River. The front-seat passenger was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The driver and the two children — ages 11 and 5 — were rushed to Marshall Medical Center with serious and major injuries.”
The adult male driver sustained serious injuries. Both children in the backseat were transported and their injuries were described as major. The exact relationship between the four victims has not been confirmed by authorities.
Investigators have ruled out DUI as a factor. The cause of the crash remains under active investigation by the CHP’s Placerville office.
In the aftermath, Caltrans placed the stretch of Highway 50 near Riverton and Ice House Road under one-way traffic control as emergency crews worked the scene.
