STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

A two-vehicle accident north of Hailey sent two people to the hospital Wednesday morning.

Wood River Valley resident Lindi D. Mattinson, 21, was transported to St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center and flown from there to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise where she remains in critical condition.

Eberto B. Zavala, of Hailey, was transported to St. Luke’s Wood River where he was released with minor injuries.

The Blaine County Sheriff’s office responded to the two-vehicle accident at milepost 120.4 near the intersection of Buttercup Road. There they determined Mattinson was traveling southbound when her vehicle went off the southbound shoulder of the roadway, overcorrected and crossed into the oncoming northbound lane of traffic.

Her vehicle struck a 2001 Ford F350 truck that Zavala was driving northbound with a small backhoe on a flatbed trailer. The force of the collision tore the front of Mattinson’s vehicle off and it became lodged against the front of the truck.

The Sheriff’s Department diverted traffic through the Valley Club and opened one lane of southbound traffic by 10:15 a.m. Deputies were able to reopen one lane of traffic for north and south-bound traffic with intermittent delays by 11:40 a.m.

All lanes of Highway 75 were reopened by 12:30 p.m.

The collision remains under investigation by the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office.