A woman and a toddler were injured late Sunday afternoon and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after vehicle in which they were passengers left U.S. Highway 101 and rolled several times.
A 2-year-old boy was listed in serious condition with unspecified head injuries at Harborview.
His mother, identified as Elena Eremenko, 32, was listed in stable condition, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Ward.
Ward said the driver of the Honda Odyssey 1999 van, who was not immediately identified, apparently fell asleep shortly before 6 p.m. in heavy traffic while eastbound on Highway 101 near the east end of Old Gardiner Road. The woman and child were ejected out of the left rear side of the van as it rolled, he said.
“She was holding the child in her lap without a seatbelt,”‘ said Ward.
The van left the road on right shoulder, swerved back into eastbound lane and then left roadway again, rolling in an area with several large tree stumps.
“It was amazing that it wasn’t worse,” Ward said.
The driver and two other male passengers were transported by ambulance to Jefferson General Hospital in Port Townsend for observation Sunday night, said Ward. The three, who were not identified, were not believed to be seriously injured, he said.