Woman Killed in Thermal Traffic Collision Identified

THERMAL (CNS) – Authorities Thursday identified a 20-year-old woman who was killed in a head-on traffic collision in Thermal.

Fire crews responded at 8:50 p.m. Wednesday to the 67000 block of Harrison Street, in Thermal, to a report of a traffic collision, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

A 1999 Toyota Tacoma that was going southbound on Harrison Street, for an unknown reason, veered into the northbound lane and had a head-on collision with a 2002 Dodge Van, CHP public information officer David Torres told City News Service.

A "patient perished at the scene prior to arrival of first responders," fire officials said in a statement.

The decedent was the driver of the Tacoma, identified by the Riverside County coroner’s office as Karla Juarez-Florez of Thermal, Torres told CNS. The Tacoma sustained major damage.

Torres said that the two occupants of the Dodge sustained minor injuries but that only the passenger was taken to a hospital.

The cause of the collision remained under investigation.

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