SANDERS, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a teenage girl who died when a school van was hit from behind by a semi-truck in eastern Arizona and then pushed into another vehicle.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials on Monday said 17-year-old Kiarra Gordon of Wide Ruins was declared dead at the scene of Sunday morning’s crash near Sanders, located about 55 miles (88 kilometers) east of Holbrook.
Traffic had slowed on Interstate 40 because of an earlier rollover crash when the semi struck the school shuttle van, according to DPS.
Gordon was a student at the Seventh Day Adventist School Indian School in Holbrook.
School officials said she was one of 23 people on the van carrying students and staff on a field trip to Window Rock.
Authorities said at least other people in the van suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries in the crash.
It’s still unclear if the injured were students or school staff members.
Navajo County officials said in a statement Monday that “our strength is in our unity and we stand united in our sorrow today.”







