SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 15-year-old girl died after heavy rains caused a huge sink hole to open on a Utah highway, swallowing one vehicle and causing her father's SUV to careen off the road.
Authorities said the crash that killed Justine Barneck and injured her father, Michael Barneck, late Wednesday night happened when the road collapsed in front of them, leaving a patch of asphalt on the edge of the hole that the vehicle hit, causing the fatal accident.
At about the same time, a second car actually went into the 40-foot-wide, 30-foot-deep hole, said Utah Highway Patrol Cpl. Todd Johnson. The driver of that vehicle, 37-year-old Helen Paulson, was hurt, but the extent of her injuries was not immediately clear.
The accidents near Tabiona, about 90 miles east of Salt Lake City, came about 15 minutes after a heavy storm began at about 11:30 p.m., quickly overflowing a clogged culvert and washing out the two-lane state road, Johnson said.
Michael Barneck was taken to a hospital with head injuries and is expected to be released Friday.
Justine Barneck was very close to her family, especially her twin sister, Jentri, who was not in the vehicle, said older sister Jamie Allred.
"She was an absolute angel," Allred said.
Allred said her sister's death was deeply felt in Tabiona, a town of a few hundred people at the base of the Uinta Mountains. She said the family has strong roots in the community, where one school holds kindergarten through high school students.
"She was more than willing to help anyone. I don't think there could be many 15-year-olds like her ... she was perfect from day one," Allred told The Associated Press.
All three people were wearing seat belts, Johnson said.
The highway will remain closed while repairs are made and traffic is being diverted. •
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Mexico soldiers find 'largest' pot plantation ever
Two Soldiers watch 134 tons of marijuana burning in 2010 in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico.
A Mexican military commander said Thursday that his soldiers discovered a record-busting marijuana plantation 120 hectares (nearly 300 acres) large in the state of Baja California.
"It is the largest marijuana plantation in Mexican history," General Alfonso Duarte, the commander of the military region based in the far north-western border city of Tijuana, told AFP.
Duarte said the plantation can produce 120 tons of marijuana, which he valued at nearly $160 million.
The plantation, which includes housing for some 60 workers, is hidden in an area best known for raising tomatoes, he said.
The Baja California plantation is nearly twice as large as the previous record marijuana plantation, a 64 hectare pot farm in the northwestern state of Sinaloa discovered in 2007, the military said in a statement.
Soldiers found the plantation while on ground patrol, and arrested six of the nearly 20 people who were working at the time, Duarte said.
Duarte added that he did not know which drug cartel owned the plantation.
The plantation is located near the center of the Baja California peninsula, the general said, but refused to be more specific about the location.
Separately, the Catholic bishop of Saltillo, in the northern border state of Coahuila, said that drug cartels are recruiting children and paying them to act as watch guards.
The kids, usually boys around the age of 12, are paid $120 a week, Bishop Raul Vera told the daily La Jornada. •
Blessings to you and yours! -Missygirl*
