Three injured in off-road vehicle crash in Merced

Three women suffered major injuries Tuesday night when they were thrown from an off-road vehicle after crashing into a canal in Merced, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Names of the three people involved in the crash were not released Wednesday.

CHP investigators said the three were in a "utility terrain vehicle" that crashed into a dry canal around 9:10 p.m. on private property north of Yosemite Avenue, east of Lake Road on the outskirts of Merced.

All three were ejected from the vehicle.

"None of them were wearing seat belts," Officer Eric Zuniga said.

The driver, a 34-year-old Merced woman, was flown to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto with major injuries. A passenger, identified only as a 33-year-old Merced woman, suffered facial injuries and was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Merced. A second passenger, a 34-year-old woman from Hermosa Beach, suffered a broken arm and also was taken to the hospital in Merced.

Updates on their conditions were not available Wednesday.

Neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to have been factors in the crash, the CHP said.