One man was killed and another seriously injured after a rollover accident on I-80 near Lake Point Wednesday morning.

According to Cpl. Andrew Prescott of the Utah Highway Patrol, a white Chevy Express van was merging into the eastbound lanes of the interstate from SR-36 when it moved into the right merge lane to pass other vehicles at a high rate of speed. When the lane ended, the van wasn’t able to merge into traffic and instead continued traveling on the shoulder of the road.

After traveling on the shoulder for a short distance, the van drifted off the right side of the road. The driver then overcorrected to the left and sideswiped a Honda Accord in the process, sending both vehicles spinning. The Accord stayed on its wheels and in the roadway. The van rolled three or four times up onto an embankment on the right side of the road before landing back on its wheels, according to Prescott.

David B. Sensiba, 34, of Salt Lake City, was found lying face down underneath the van. He was airlifted to University Hospital with serious head injures, Prescott said.

Because of statements given by witnesses, officers initially believed only one man had been in the van at the time of the accident. About 30 minutes later, however, officers found the body of Tyrone B. Wootten, 34, also of Salt Lake City, nearly 70 feet from where the van had landed.

Wootten was pronounced dead on scene.

“Witnesses said there was just one man in the vehicle,” Prescott said. “And we weren’t able to get any information from the man we initially found because he was unconscious.”

Officers aren’t sure which man was the driver of the vehicle and which man was a passenger. The investigation is ongoing, Prescott said.

Neither man was wearing a seat belt.

Officers believe speed and consumption of alcohol were factors in the crash.

UHP shut down the eastbound lanes of I-80 to enable a medical helicopter to land, causing commuter traffic on SR-36 to back up to the SR-138 intersection. After the helicopter took off, the left lane was opened back up, but the right lane remained closed until about 4:30 p.m., while UHP surveyed the scene.

Prescott said the lane restriction had little effect on traffic throughout the day.

Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com