Four people were taken to area hospitals Monday, two in critical condition, after an off-highway vehicle rolled off County Road 3 near Stoney Pass, east of Silverton. The vehicle was carrying two adults and two children.
Details of the crash are scant as it remains under investigation by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office.
A Silverton Medical Rescue team joined the Sheriff’s Office in the response.
The two patients in critical condition were transported via helicopters, San Juan County spokeswoman DeAnne Gallegos said. The other two patients were transported via ambulance.
A Flight For Life helicopter from Mercy Hospital in Durango and a CareFlight of the Rockies helicopter from St. Mary's Regional Hospital in Grand Junction both responded to the area around 1 p.m. Monday, flight records show. Both aircraft returned to their hospitals of origin later that afternoon.
The status of all four patients remains unknown as of Tuesday afternoon.
The rough roads that traverse the San Juan Mountains around Silverton are a popular destination for adventurers equipped with jeeps, OHVs and all-terrain vehicles. Accidents involving OHVs and ATVs are not uncommon.
In July 2020, a woman was ejected off an ATV outside Silverton and required a Flight for Life evacuation. Two months later, an OHV rollover near Eureka, north of Silverton, sent a family of six to the hospital.
A man died in 2022 after the ATV he was riding on rolled near Animas Forks.
And in August 2023, four people were critically injured in an OHV rollover incident that occurred near Monday’s incident. The four occupants, one of whom later had his lower left leg amputated, were not wearing helmets, seat belts or other protective equipment. All four passengers required evacuation by helicopter.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
