Two vehicle accidents along the same short patch of the Alaska Highway outside of Teslin resulted in a death early Wednesday evening.

Jodi Pauline Hewitt, a 29-year-old resident of Whitehorse, was killed after the car she was a passenger in rolled near kilometre marker 1201 on the highway, approximately 40 kilometres east of Teslin.

She was travelling with another Whitehorse resident, a 30-year-old woman who was driving the vehicle. The RCMP have yet to release her name.

Chip-seal repairs are being done along that 30-metre section of the highway, with loose gravel covering the road surface.

Const. Paul Thalhofer from the RCMP Watson Lake detachment said the gravel covers three quarters of the road, and immediately follows a downhill section.

'Drivers see the gravel there and try to slow down, but their perception and reaction time is impacted because of the road conditions,' Thalhofer said.

He added that if there had been no road repairs being done, he doubts the accident would have taken place.

The car rolled off the road. When RCMP from the Teslin detachment and emergency medical services arrived on the scene, the vehicle was found upside-down. The driver's arm was pinned between the vehicle and the ground, but did not require the jaws of life or lifting equipment to be removed.

She was extracted from the vehicle and medivaced to Whitehorse General Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Hewitt was declared deceased at the scene. Her family has been notified.

The vehicle they were travelling in will be transported from Teslin to Whitehorse, where it will undergo a mechanical inspection and seatbelt examination.

The second accident took place just before 5:00 this morning, and was an identical scenario to the first crash, according to Thalhofer.

'The only difference is that the second time around, they were more lucky,' he said.

The vehicle lost control at the same point along the highway and rolled over several times. Teslin RCMP attended the scene, where both the driver and passenger were treated for minor, non-life-threatening injuries.

There were no other vehicles in the area during either accident. Everyone involved in the crashes were wearing their seatbelts.

While speed would not have normally been a factor in either crash, Thalhofer said it was in these cases due to the road conditions. There are signs in place advising motorists of the road construction and to reduce their speed accordingly.

Teslin RCMP are speaking with members of the Department of Highways and Public Works to advise them of the acccidents.

At this point, the gravel along that short stretch of the highway is not scheduled to be swept off until Monday.

Thalhofer said it is up to the highway department to decide whether to accelerate that process.

The department had not made a spokesperson available to the Star by press time this afternoon.

The RCMP Teslin detachment and 'M' Division collision analyst continue to investigate both accidents.

Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in either incident.