Two injured in crash west of Harlem

Two women were seriously injured Thursday early afternoon in a crash involving their passenger vehicle and two semitractor-trailers west of Harlem.

Emergency responders were called to the crash on U.S. Highway 2 near mile marker 420 at 1:30 p.m.

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Matt Erickson said that at the time of the crash both visibility and road conditions were poor due to heavy snowfall.

One of the semis involved in the crash was pulled to the side of the highway on the westbound side so the driver could clear snow from the windshield, Erickson said. The driver of the passenger car had slowed to go around the parked semi, and the driver of the second semi, a grain truck, drove into the back of the car.

Erickson said the two women had to be extricated from the car, and one was transported to Indian Health Services and the other to Northern Montana Hospital. The drivers of the semis were not injured.

The car and the grain truck were totaled and the parked semi sustained damage to the trailer, Erickson said, adding that the westbound lane of U.S. 2 was shut down until the scene was cleared but traffic was slowed and allowed to pass in the eastbound lane.

Erickson said visibility and road conditions and possibly speed for the conditions are factors in the crash, but any charges are pending final investigation.