A 24-year-old woman from Aliso Viejo died early Saturday morning after the Chevrolet Suburban she was traveling in struck an overturned semi tractor-trailer on eastbound Interstate 40 near Essex, California. The crash was reported at approximately 4:38 a.m. at mile marker 112, about a mile and a half before the Mountain Springs Road exit, in a remote stretch of San Bernardino County’s Mojave Desert. Emergency crews arrived to find the woman had been pronounced dead at the scene; her name has been withheld pending positive identification. The California Highway Patrol’s Needles office is investigating why the big rig overturned before the Suburban hit it.
According to Pain In The Pass, which first reported the crash, all eastbound lanes of I-40 were shut down for hours afterward, with significant delays and drivers advised to seek alternate routes. The outlet reported that the semi tractor-trailer overturned for reasons still under investigation before the Suburban struck it. The San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Division confirmed in a press release that the victim was a 24-year-old woman from Aliso Viejo, though her name remains withheld pending positive identification. The California Highway Patrol’s Needles office continues to investigate the cause of the crash.
