CASCADE COUNTY — A 21-year-old Fairfield woman died after a single-vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 89 just west of Vaughn early Saturday morning.
According to the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP), officers responded to the crash just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday near mile marker 12 and the Mormon Church Exit that intersects with Montana Highway 200.
The victim reportedly failed to negotiate a left-hand curve and began drifting off the right side of the road. She then overcorrected and ran off the side of the road, taking out the fence post of a rancher’s pasture and hitting an embankment. She landed in a ditch after the vehicle rolled several times, landing upside down in a ditch.
The woman was alone and had to be extricated from the vehicle. She was then air-lifted to Benefis Hospital — where she later died.
Both speed and alcohol are considered to be factors in the crash. According to MHP, the victim was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. The woman’s identity has not yet been released.
MHP is investigating the incident.
MTN News will update you with more information as it becomes available.
