HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK, Maui — Three visitors from France were killed yesterday when their car went off a section of Crater Road without guardrails and dropped 12 to 15 feet into a gulch.

A fourth French tourist, the driver, was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center in serious but stable condition, said Sharon Ringsven, a ranger at Haleakala National Park.

The 4:10 p.m. accident happened at about 8,000-foot elevation, two miles above park headquarters.

The red Chevy Cobalt was traveling down the park's main road when it went off to the right and into a gulch.

The accident happened on a 25-yard stretch of road without guardrails, or even much of a shoulder. All that is between a vehicle and a steep dropoff are three plastic reflector poles.

On either side of that stretch are embankments where the terrain has been cut for the road. "It appears the car went up the embankment and launched over the gulch. It may have hit the opposite-side embankment and rolled back into the gulch," Ringsven said.

Ringsven said there had been a similar accident at that same spot three or four years ago, with no injuries.

A passing motorist reported yesterday's accident. When authorities arrived, they found the driver, a man in his 60s, walking around outside the car, Ringsven said.

The three people killed were in the car — a woman in her 60s, and a man and woman in their 30s.

It was not known if they were wearing seat belts.

The people are French nationals and part of larger tour group of about a dozen other people who were exploring the park in separate vehicles yesterday, Ringsven said.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.