Two Die, 4 Hurt In Van Plunge Near Mount St. Helens

A minivan carrying six sightseers plunged over a 300-foot cliff Monday in Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, killing a woman and a boy.

The van was traveling along a Forest Service road near Bear Meadows, about four miles northeast of Spirit Lake, when it went over the cliff and landed in heavy brush and trees, said Mike Hollingsworth, a paramedic with North Country Emergency Medical Services.

The road accesses the Windy Ridge observation viewpoint north of the volcano.

A woman in her 60s and a boy in his early teens were pronounced dead at the scene, said North Country chief Tom McDowell. The four other people in the van, two adults and two children, were taken to area hospitals.

Two girls were flown by helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center in Portland, Ore., he said.

Seven-year-old Jennifer Kidder was in serious but stable condition with a head injury and facial cuts, said hospital spokeswoman Dianne Danowski-Smith. Emily Kidder, 8, was in serious condition and still being evaluated in the trauma unit.

An adult woman was released Monday afternoon from Morton Hospital in southwest Washington after being treated for a head laceration.