A 14-year-old girl died from injuries she suffered after falling rocks hit a vehicle on Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park on Monday.
A rockfall around 7 p.m. near the East Tunnel on Going-to-the-Sun Road struck the vehicle the girl and four other people were traveling in, according to a press release.
The rocks hit the top of the vehicle and shattered the rear windshield, fatally injuring the girl, and also injuring her parents and two other children.
A.L.E.R.T. air ambulance responded, but was unable to airlift the girl due to her unstable condition. Flight paramedics traveled with her to Kalispell via ground ambulance and the girl died while being transported to the hospital, according to the press release.
The two adults suffered significant bruises and were transported to area hospitals by Babb and Browning ground ambulance. The two other children in the vehicle had minor injuries and also went by ambulance to the hospital.
The press release states the family was visiting Glacier National Park from Utah. The girl's name and hometown have not yet been released. The family requested privacy at this time.
Park officials wrote the rocks that hit the vehicle were between fist-sized and 12 inches in diameter. The park estimates the amount of debris could have filled the bed of a pickup truck. The rocks fell from an unknown height from the mountains above the road.
The last fatal injury from rockfall on Going-to-the-Sun Road was in 1996 when a vehicle was struck by a falling rock in the Rimrocks section of the road, just west of Logan Pass.
Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed at the East Tunnel for approximately three hours on Monday night while the park road crew cleared the rocks and a tow truck removed the vehicle.
