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Remote wrecks claim eight lives

CRANE – Eight people are dead after a head-on collision Monday morning on Oregon Highway 78 near milepost 30 south of Crane.

Oregon State Police Lt. Mark Duncan said police are still investigating the crash. Both vehicles caught re after the crash, he said. Few details were available at press time.

Police responded to another fatal wreck last Saturday near Jordan Valley.

A U.S. Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan was killed, and four other people were hurt in the wreck on U.S. Highway 95.

State Police said Victor Dunkelberger, 33, of Rocklin, Calif., died when his 2014 Ford Escape collided head-on by a 2005 Ford Focus operated by Jaila Aguilera-Pinder, 19, of Las Vegas at about 2:45 p.m. Police said the collision occurred about 20 miles north of McDermitt when Aguilera-Pinder attempted to pass a commercial vehicle in a no-passing zone.

Police said two passengers riding with Dunkelberger, a juvenile and Ayna Anderson, 27, also from Rocklin, were taken by ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.

Aguilera-Pinder and a passenger, Keilin Alfonso- Vaquero, 25, of Las Vegas, were own to Saint Alphonsus in Boise.

Police said Monday afternoon that the juvenile had been released from the hospital and that Anderson was undergoing surgery. Aguilera-Pinder and Alfonso-Vaquero also remained hospitalized.

The state police were assisted by the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office, Life Flight, Jordan Valley Ambulance, the Oregon Department of Transportation and Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada.

Reporter Pat Caldwell: [email protected] or 541-473-3377.