By HEATHER RUPPE
Several people, including a child, were injured in a high-speed Interstate 95 crash on Sunday when one car collided with a trailer carrying another vehicle.
The crash occurred near the 43-mile marker on I-95 near Walterboro. According to authorities, a Volkswagen Passat collided with a trailer that was being pulled by a second vehicle. The Passat then went into a median, where it struck a tree. The impact was so severe that the engine from the Passat was thrown nearly 20 feet from where the car hit the tree.
An adult female passenger was trapped in the wreckage.
Two children were in the back seat and they were also seriously injured.
The male driver of the Passat was also injured, but his injuries were not life-threatening, according to Colleton County Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy.
“Firefighter-paramedics treated all four patients from the Passat at the scene. No one was injured in the second vehicle,” said McRoy.
Rescue tools were used to remove the female passenger from the crushed car. Meanwhile, a medical helicopter landed at a nearby rest area and flew the woman to the Trauma Center and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
The two children and the adult male were also taken the MUSC Trauma Center, via ambulance.
The S.C. Highway Patrol is investigating this crash.
According to McRoy, northbound traffic on I-95 was merged into one lane for nearly two hours, creating a traffic backup of several miles.
