A 21-year-old Anchorage man died early Monday when his car struck a moose on the Glenn Highway, Alaska State Troopers said. Two teenage girls were also injured in the crash.
Hawk Ladra was westbound in a black 2008 Ford Fusion when a moose entered the roadway near Eureka at Mile 128 of the Glenn Highway, troopers wrote in an online statement. Troopers were called to the area around 2:35 a.m., the statement said.
“The vehicle then drifted off of the roadway and came to a rest almost a 1/4 mile after hitting the moose and 200 feet off of the roadway,” troopers wrote.
Ladra died at the scene, according to troopers.
An 18-year-old girl was medevaced to an Anchorage hospital with life-threatening injuries, troopers wrote. A 14-year-old girl was brought to a Palmer hospital for a minor injury, the statement said.
The moose was killed and its remains were not salvageable, said Austin McDaniel, a spokesman for the troopers.
Investigation into the crash is ongoing, troopers said. It was not immediately clear how fast Ladra was driving when his vehicle struck the moose.
Roughly a half-hour after the crash, a 36-year-old man from Valdez struck a different moose while driving east on the Glenn Highway about a mile away from the crash, near mile 129, McDaniel said.
“Responding troopers reported seeing several moose along the Glenn Highway,” McDaniel said.
The driver sustained moderate injuries and was brought to a hospital, McDaniel said. The moose died and its remains were recovered by a charity, according to McDaniel.