PLAIN GROVE TWP, Lawrence County — A teenager who was to celebrate his birthday next week died early Sunday morning when the pickup truck he was riding in slid into a tree along Route 108 just over the Butler County line, authorities said.

The driver suffered life-threatening injuries and three other passengers also were hurt in the crash shortly after 2 a.m.

Emergency crews reported the road about one-half mile west of Interstate 79 was snow covered and icy in spots and those conditions were likely factors in the wreck that left Route 108 closed for more than six hours.

Lawrence County Coroner Russell Noga pronounced Giovanni Costa, 19, of New Castle dead at the scene at 4:01 a.m. Costa died of massive head and body injuries, Noga said.

Andrew Birch, 23, of New Castle, who was driving the Chevrolet Silverado was flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital with critical injuries, rescuers said.

The other passengers — Dominick Caimona, 19, Patrick Kelley, 21, and Bryant Croach, 19, all of New Castle — were taken to Grove City Medical Center with minor injuries.

Authorities said the young men were apparently headed home from the Slippery Rock area when Birch lost control of his westbound pickup.

“He was going around a bend, down a slight grade,” Noga said.

The truck slid across the center line and traveled over the opposing lane.

“It went off the road and slid past the guardrail,” Noga said. “The driver’s side hit a big tree.”

The road, which was covered with snow that was periodically whipped up by the blowing wind, was “a little slippery,” said Chief Ken Taggart of the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company.

Costa, who was in the back seat right behind Birch, was already dead when rescue crews got there. He was wearing a seat belt.

The teen was to turn 20 on Feb. 24.

Firefighters had to pry open the driver’s side door and cut the brake and gas pedals to get Birch out of the truck, authorities said.

“He was breathing but unconscious,” Taggart said.

Slippery Rock EMS paramedics and emergency medical technicians immediately tended to the injured.

A Life Flight helicopter was called to the crash but had to turn back due to the weather, authorities said. Instead, a Slippery Rock ambulance took Birch to UPMC Passavant Cranberry, where a helicopter flew him to UPMC Presbyterian.

His condition was not known this morning.

Police, aided by the Scott Township Volunteer Fire Department in Lawrence County, shut down the road between I-79 and Plain Grove Road, which remained closed until after 8:15 a.m.

Getting to the crash scene, Noga admitted, was not easy.

“The roads were pretty bad, pretty icy,” he said. “There was a lot of drifting.”

State police said their crash investigation continues.