Emergency Situation
A racer has sent out a number of emergency distress signals this afternoon and emergency responders have been on the scene for the last hour. As of right now, we know there was a motor vehicle accident that sent someone or something "over an embankment." Conditions are currently unknown.
We will keep everyone posted as we know more. We are withholding the racer's name until we can contact the racer's family.
Comments
UPDATE
This is Sherry. I have spoke to Summitt County Sheriff's Office and SPOT GEOS contact Randy Hanson. I have been told that there was a motor vehicle accident on UTE Pass with a rollover down an embankment BUT the 2 bikers were not part of the accident and rather assisting at the scene. The two riders at the scene were Alan Goldsmith and Dominik Scherer. I was told Alan's 911 message was set off to get help for the motor vehicle incident and the dispatcher particularly told me that when she called to the scene Dominik was there helping. We have recorded a message for Alan to reset his SPOT when he calls in. It was a pretty tense time but I am so thankful that we have been told that neither Alan nor Dominik were involved in the accident. You may have noticed that they were at the same location for a couple of hours this afternoon. I guess this is not the "official message" yet but all the information that I could gather this afternoon. From all of my calls, I found out that SPOT dispatched for help immediately. I can not say enough good things about the guys at SPOT. They were on this situation immediately. As soon as Alan and/or Dominik call in we'll know the whole story. Sherry
please post the udpate as a top-level post
Sherry,
Your update is posted as a comment to the "Emergency" post, so people who just look at the top level of the blog will still be as scared as I was at the earlier news, and may not notice the update. Please post the update, that Alan and Dominic are OK, as an independent blog post so it shows up at the top level where it is most visible.
And thank goodness for the SPOT device and the service it provided.
Thanks, Amy
Yep, that's a good idea
I copied and posted there as well. Sherry O.
Update: Riders are safe, driver flipped over embankment
This is Josh and Patrick, Tour Divide Film Crew B.
4:16pm 6/27: We just left the scene of the accident. FIRST, none of the riders were involved...ALL TOUR DIVIDE RIDERS ARE SAFE.
According to police on scene, a 16 year old woman lost control of her Trailblazer on a two lane road, started to go off the right side of the rode, then over corrected and swerved into the on-coming lane, hit the guard rail, and the vehicle flew over the guardrail down the side of a very steep hill about 150 yards. The car was upside down. This was not a pretty accident.
If tour divide riders had not been there and pressed their SPOT emergency signal units, the young woman and her two passengers would likely still be in the car as there was almost NO SIGN of an accident.
Instead, emergency responders arrived on scene around 12:30. Two of the car's passengers were in critical condition. They were airlifted to Denver. The third was taken by ambulance.
We are attempting to catch up to the riders who were there, Dommick and Alan. Will report back whatever we find.
-Josh and Patrick
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