By Heather Ruppe
A massive six-car pileup that occurred on Interstate 95 over the weekend killed three people and sent eight others to area hospitals with serious injuries.
The crash occurred on Sunday, July 24th on I-95 near the 52-mile marker, in the southbound lanes. Firefighters and paramedics with Colleton County Fire-Rescue received emergency calls about 4:45 p.m. on Sunday. They arrived to the crash scene, and discovered five vehicles in the median.
Two of those five vehicles were on fire.
“Several bystanders attempted to rescue the three people from the burning car,” said Barry McRoy, chief of Colleton County Fire-Rescue. According to McRoy, one of those people who tried to rescue the victims was a sergeant in the U.S. Army. That unidentified man did receive minor burns while he was trying to save the victims in the burning car. He was treated by local firefighter-paramedics.
One 17-year-old girl was flown from the crash site to the Trauma Center at Trident Medical Center in North Charleston.
The remaining seven people who were injured, including several children, were taken by ambulances to Colleton Medical Center. The Colleton County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene and transported the deceased victims from the crash site.
The southbound lanes of I-95 were closed for six hours. A temporary detour was set up by the S.C. Department of Transportation: that detour sent traffic through Walterboro along Sniders Highway.
This crash is being investigated by the S.C. Highway Patrol. It is unclear at this time what caused the crash to occur.
