EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 1 p.m. to include the news release of the traffic collision.

Managing Editor

CSU Bakersfield junior Karina Ramirez died following a vehicle accident Sunday, Nov. 27, near Lost Hills.

California Highway Patrol stated in a news release that around 2 a.m. on Sunday, officers responded to a report of a major traffic collision on Highway 46, east of Main Drain Road.

CHP said that David Hughes, 53, from Atascadero was driving a 2010 Toyota westbound on the highway, when for an unknown reason, his car swerved to the left and into Ramirez’s vehicle, causing a head-on collision.

As emergency personnel arrived, they pronounced Ramirez dead at the scene.

Hughes sustained major injuries and was transported to Kern Medical Center.

CHP said alcohol and drugs do not appear to be a factor in the collision.

The collision is still under investigation.

CSUB President Horace Mitchell sent out an email Wednesday, Nov. 30, stating that Ramirez died in a vehicle crash, near Lost Hills.

Ramirez is from Wasco, where she graduated from Wasco High School in 2014. At CSUB, Ramirez was majoring in business administration and her concentration was in accounting.

In the email, her family stated she lived life to the fullest.

“Her contagious smile and laugh brought so much joy to her family and friends,” they stated in the email.

She is survived by her parents Carlos and Lucia Ramirez, her brothers Carlos Ramirez and Eduardo Ramirez and her sister Denise Gutierrez.

A viewing for Ramirez will be held this Friday, Dec. 2 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Peters Funeral Home in Shafter. Mass is also scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3rd at 8 a.m. at St. Therese’s Church in Shafter, before her burial at the Wasco Memorial Park.

Mitchell stated in the email that CSUB’s flag would fly at half-staff on Dec. 2 and 3.