Ga. Interstate Crash Kills Boy, 3, Injures 5 Others
Witnesses told Georgia troopers that a tractor-trailer was speeding before rear-ending a van carrying a Pittsburgh family of five. The youngest child died and the others were all hospitalized.
McINTOSH COUNTY, Ga. --
An crash on Interstate 95 in McIntosh County Sunday afternoon claimed the life of a 3-year-old Pittsburgh boy.
The wreck happened shortly before 1 p.m. at mile marker 63 in the southbound lanes of I-95.
According to Georgia State Patrol trooper Bruce DeLoach, witnesses said the tractor-trailer, driven by Willie Hill, of Jacksonville, was traveling at a high rate of speed before it struck the rear of a 2007 Toyota Sienna van driven by Susan Thornton.
Also in the vehicle was her husband, Daniel, and three children: Christopher, 8, Sarah, 5, and Sean, 3.
When the truck struck the back of the van, the vehicle was pushed onto the shoulder of the interstate into the treeline, breaking several trees as both vehicles plowed through.
It took nearly two hours for Mcintosh and Liberty County firefighters to get all the victims out of the vehicles.
"It took three sets of jaws (of life) to get them out," a McIntostch County spokesman told WTOC-TV.
Sean Thornton was pronounced dead at the scene. Susan and Sarah Thornton and Hill were flown by air ambulance to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.
Daniel Thornton and two other children were transported to hospitals by ground ambulances.
All southbound lanes of I-95 remained closed during the rescue and clean-up efforts.
The incident remained under investigation.
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