An 18-year-old Jackson man was one of two people killed in a one-vehicle rollover Thursday morning outside Afton, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reported.

The crash killed valley resident Michael J. Stanek and Star Valley resident Bracken G. Erickson, 19, the Highway Patrol reported in a news release. The accident happened at 8:52 a.m. three miles west of Afton on Highway 238, and the two were pronounced dead at 9:20 a.m. at Star Valley Medical Center, the patrol reported.

Neither was wearing a seat belt and both were ejected from the vehicle, according to the release.

“The crash remains under investigation, however, troopers believe [the driver may have been going too fast to] safely negotiate the curve in the roadway,” the release states.

The following account of the accident comes from the Highway Patrol.

Erickson was driving a GMC 2500 truck eastbound on dry Highway 238 in clear weather. As Erickson attempted to negotiate a left-hand curve, the truck left the road and hit a post on the right-side shoulder. 

The driver then overcorrected and the truck went into a broadside slide as it went across the eastbound and then westbound lanes. 

The vehicle went off the roadway on the left side, going through the right-of-way fence before it rolled one and a half times.

The vehicle stopped on its top in an irrigation ditch in about 3 to 4 feet of water. During the rollover, Stanek and Erickson were ejected from the cab. 

Stanek landed away from the vehicle, and Erickson was found under the vehicle’s roof.