Disaster claims AAHS student | News, sports, work

A member of the Altoona Area High School girls soccer team was killed in a single-vehicle crash on the 10th Avenue Expressway just past Ninth Street, according to Altoona police, Blair County Coroner Ray Benton and Altoona Area School District spokeswoman Paula Foreman.

The authorities refused to provide the victim’s name or other details of the accident.

According to the captain, there were two other passengers in the vehicle. A.C. Stickel of the Altoona Police Department, who would not say whether they were injured.

According to Benton and Stickel, the victim died at the scene of the crash, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m.

Stickel and Benton said city police are investigating with assistance from state police and the coroner’s office.

Foreman said the Altoona Area School District will have access to additional counseling as well as grief support services for staff and students.

If any family believes their children need such support, they can call the district and ask for it, Foreman said.

“This is a tragic loss,” Foreman said, offering his “sympathies and condolences to the family.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler can be reached at 814-949-7038.