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Woman killed in van crash on Rt. 28

HARRISON TWP, Allegheny County — One woman was killed and two others injured Wednesday morning when a minivan they were riding in crashed on a Route 28 overpass near the Allegheny-Armstrong county line, state police said.

Sharon Baughman, 55, of Brackenridge, Allegheny County, was taken by ambulance from the 8:55 a.m. crash but died nearly three hours later at Allegheny General in Pittsburgh.

Janice Dapra, 53, and Carol Sopko, 59, both of Allegheny County, were treated at hospitals for injuries police described as minor.

Baughman and the two injured women were passengers in a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan traveling south near the "de-icing bridge" on Route 28.

Kathleen Ferguson, 59, of Natrona Heights, the driver, lost control on the still icy road, police said. The vehicle went off the road and up a slight embankment.

Investigators said the van spun around, rolled onto its left side and slid about 50 feet.

"When the left side impacted with the embankment,"a police report said, "the passenger area partially collapsed onto (Baughman)."

Baughman was riding in the left rear passenger seat.

Citizens Hose volunteer firefighters got the woman out of the van and rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:34 a.m., according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

She suffered massive injuries but a cause of death is pending an autopsy today, an investigator at the medical examiner's office said this morning.

All three passengers and Ferguson, who was not injured, were wearing seat belts, police said.

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