UPDATE: Northway crash victim identified as Queens woman

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

A firefighter inspects damage to a vehicle that hit a tree in the median of the Northway Tuesday morning.

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The woman who died in a one-car accident this morning on the Northway near Exit 12 was from Queens.

State police said Kathleen Vesely, 74, was on her way to Rainbow Lake camp in the western part of the state when she crashed at 9:15 a.m.

Vesely was driving in the northbound left lane of Interstate 87 near Exit 12 when she ran off the road into the median and hit a tree head-on. Police do not yet know what caused her to run off the road and continue to investigate.

Vesely was driving a 2004 Subaru and did not have any passengers.

Police said she traveled 120 feet through the median before hitting the tree. Her vehicle was demolished by the impact.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. A tarp covered the battered car in the morning as motorists drove past.

Vesely’s body was taken to Saratoga Hospital for an autopsy.

State police from the Northway Station and an ambulance were first at the scene, said Malta Ridge Fire Chief Peter Shaw. His department also responded.

The tree is the only one on the median in that section. Shaw recalled other trees on the median were taken down in years past.

The accident closed the left lane of the Northway northbound for a couple hours.