Three Commercial Trucks Involved in Fiery I-77 Pileup

Road construction on I-77 in Chester County created stop-and-go traffic conditions that resulted in a fiery six-car pileup in early September. The multi-vehicle wreck closed the highway for more than 8 hours while first responders worked to literally put out fires and save more than a dozen victims. The accident was so large that the emergency response included more than 60 people, including crews from 10 volunteer fire departments and 6 medical helicopter teams.

How it happened

 WSOCTV 9 reported that a tractor-trailer rear-ended a car on the northbound side of I-77, causing a chain-reaction collision. The truck then crossed over the median of I-77 and hit a log truck headed in the opposite direction. Richburg Firefighter T.] Melton told the news that he “saw a child’s car seat sitting in the emergency lane of the highway with cars driving around it… ‘He was still in the car seat but you could tell the child was hurt,’ Melton said, holding back tears. The impact of the crash was tremendous. ‘The seat, the car seat was in, was thrown from the car and then the car seat straps broke and threw the child,’ Melton said.”

Thankfully, the young boy survived, but truck driver Norman Kimble and another man died during the crash. That other man was Chung-tin Chu, 82, who was returning from his wife’s 80^th birthday cruise with family when their minivan was struck by the tractor-trailer. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Big rig collisions cause bigger damage

This accident involved a chain reaction and a head-on collision between two loaded big rigs. The resulting damage was worse than most of the first responders had ever witnessed. Debris was strewn across both sides of the divided highway. The median and two of the big trucks were on fire. The spreading grassfire threatened to choke trapped crash victims in their damaged vehicles. We do not know if there was a mechanical failure in the truck, or if the driver was negligent in some way: we only know that innocent families are hurting because of a truck accident they could not avoid.

Commercial truck accidents can change lives in an instant. If your loved one has been injured or killed in a truck accident in South Carolina, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills and lost wages as well as for pain and suffering and other non-financial losses. The experienced South Carolina truck accident attorneys at McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC, are committed to getting truck accident victims the compensation they deserve. Call 803-327-7800 or contact us today for a free consultation.