CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia high school senior and a 30-year-old woman died Thursday night in a head-on car collision near Charles Town, authorities said Friday.
Chief Ronald Fletcher of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said a Kia Sorento and a Dodge Ram crashed into each other around 7:20 p.m. on Route 51 close to the Ambler Road intersection. One of the vehicles was reported to be on fire before emergency personnel arrived.
Hunter Muse, a 17-year-old senior at Jefferson High School who was a passenger in the Kia, was pronounced dead at the scene, Fletcher said. The Kia’s driver, 18-year-old Dylan Mills, is also a Jefferson High School senior. He was airlifted to a hospital in Virginia and was in stable condition Friday, school officials said.
The driver of the Dodge, 30-year-old Alisha Rae Shamburg, was also pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
“This is an unimaginable loss for all of us,” Jefferson High School Principal Sherry Fitzgerald said in a statement. “We are pulling together as a school and community, and sending love and support to everyone who is affected.”
Fletcher said the cause of the collision is under investigation but there’s no suspicion of drug or alcohol use.
Jefferson High has added additional grief counselors at the school.