Four dead following crashes

The Daily Inter Lake

Four women died in automobile accidents in Kalispell and Ronan this weekend.

In Kalispell, two women died in a car accident on Montana 83 west of Sportsman Bridge shortly after 9 p.m. Friday. A westbound car went into the eastbound lane and sideswiped an oncoming car, sending it into the ditch, according to information from the KCFW Web site.

Both drivers died on impact. A dog riding in one vehicle was also killed. There were no other passengers.

Montana Highway Patrol is investigating the accident.

In Lake County, two women died early Saturday morning after their vehicle went off the road into a pond.

A four-door Toyota car was headed westbound on Gunlock Road in Ronan at about 3:30 a.m. when the vehicle went off the right side of the road into an ice-covered pond, Montana Highway Patrol officials said. The car broke through the ice and rolled onto its top.

Two of the car's seven passengers managed to free themselves from the mostly submerged vehicle. They went to a nearby home to call for help.

Montana Highway Patrol, police from the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Ronan ambulance personnel rescued the remaining passengers from the car, where they'd been trapped for about an hour. ALERT helicopter flew the driver to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Two women, a 20-year-old Charlo resident and a 22-year-old from St. Ignatius, were flown to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, where both were pronounced dead. Neither was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

The remaining victims were taken to St. Luke Community Hospital in Ronan. Montana Highway Patrol is still investigating the accident. Drugs and alcohol are believed to be factors, according to Highway Patrol officials.