UPDATE: Two dead, two injured after crash in Hardy County, victims’ names released
HARDY COUNTY, W. Va. (WHSV) - Two people were killed and two others were hurt after a single-vehicle crash in Hardy County on Wednesday night.
According to Paul Lewis, the director of the Hardy County Emergency Management, the 911 call for the crash came in around 7:00 p.m.
It happened along Route 48, or Corridor H, at mile marker 112.
According to Hardy County Deputy W.A. Parker, at approximately 7:20 that night he arrived on scene and observed a single vehicle had exited the roadway and traveled through the guardrails before going over a steep embankment coming to rest approximately 300 feet north of the north roadway edge of Route 48.
According to Lewis, the vehicle was coming down a hill out of Baker toward the mountains.
At the time, officials say two male passengers from the vehicle had made their way up from it and were being treated at the scene.
The driver, 18-year-old Camelle F. Gagne of Kensington, Maryland, died as a result of this accident. According to Hardy County Sheriff Dawson, Gagne was observed and had been ejected from the vehicle.
Passenger Jaidon J. Smith, 18 years old of Silver Spring, Maryland, also died as a result of this accident.
The Bethesda Magazine in Maryland reported the two fatalities graduated from high school less than a week ago, according to officials at Walter Johnson High School.
Two other crash victims, one minor and 18-year-old Derrick M. Priester of Kensington, Maryland, sustained injuries and were transported to a Grant Memorial Hospital in Petersburg for treatment.
The Hardy County Sheriff’s Office and West Virginia State Police are still investigating the cause of the crash, but officials say they believe it to be due to high speed and wet road conditions.
This is a developing story. Stay with WHSV News for updates.
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