UPDATED: OSP: Drivers injured after 2 loaded log trucks slam into each other head-on

SCIO, Ore. -- A Veneta-area log truck driver was seriously injured Wednesday morning after losing control and colliding with another loaded log truck on Highway 226 between Lyons and Scio. The highway has remained closed since the crash while Oregon State Police finishes the scene investigation and ODOT coordinates removal of vehicles and logs.

According to OSP Senior Trooper Doug Brown, preliminary investigation shows that at 11:34 a.m. a loaded log truck driven by DENNIS D. KLOEHN, age 67, from Veneta, was eastbound on Highway about a half mile west of Kingston-Jordan Drive.  As the loaded log truck negotiated a right curve it tipped onto its side into the path of a westbound loaded log truck driven by OSCAR L. VASFARET, age 62, from Sweet Home, where both vehicles collided.

KLOEHN was seriously injured and extricated by Scio Fire Department personnel.  He was transported by LifeFlight to Oregon Health Sciences University where his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious and stable.  He was driving for Weyerhaeuser.

VASFARET received non-life threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to Lebanon Community Hospital.  He was driving for Brian Miller Logging.

OSP troopers from Salem and Albany are continuing the investigation with an OSP collision reconstructionist. Safety restraint use information is pending confirmation.

ODOT, Linn County Sheriff's Office, and emergency responders from Lyons and Scio assisted at the scene.