SAN DIEGO - Authorities today released the name of a 36-year-old woman who died over the weekend in a traffic accident on a rain-soaked stretch of Interstate 15 north of Escondido.

Elvia Yduarte of Temecula was a back-seat passenger in a 2007 Nissan Frontier extended-cab pickup that veered off northbound Interstate 15 near Gopher Canyon Road at about 70 mph shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol and county Medical Examiner's Office.

The truck overturned and tumbled roughly 250 feet down a steep embankment and into a ravine, CHP public-affairs Officer Jim Bettencourt said. Yduarte was ejected and died at the scene.

The driver of the truck, a 62-year-old man, and a 61-year-old woman riding in a front passenger seat both suffered moderately serious injuries, Bettencourt said. Medics took the two Temecula residents to Palomar Medical Center.

Heavy showers were inundating the freeway at the time of the crash and may have contributed to the driver's loss of control over the pickup, authorities said.

Temecula passenger killed on I-15 near Gopher Canyon, plunging 200 ft down embankment

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[ Pala Mesa Resort ] An investigation was under way today in the death of a 34-year-old Temecula woman killed when the pickup she was riding in veered off rain-soaked Interstate 15 in Escondido and rolled down a steep embankment.

The accident occurred on northbound Interstate 15 near Gopher Canyon Road just before 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The woman was a rear-seat passenger in a 2007 Nissan Frontier pickup with an extended cab, CHP Officer Jim Bettencourt said in a statement. She was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.

The driver of the pickup, a 62-year-old Temecula man, and a 61-year-old Temecula woman in the front passenger seat both suffered moderate injuries, Bettencourt said. Each was taken by ambulance to Palomar Medical Center.

A preliminary investigation showed the pickup was traveling at about 70 miles per hour in heavy rain when its driver lost control, sliding down a steep 200- to 300-foot dirt embankment, Bettencourt said. adding that the vehicle rolled several times but landed on its wheels. It was not immediately clear if alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash.