At least 10 dead in Ky. highway truck-van crash

[fortwayne]

Stay away from this area for awhile if you can!

MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. – A coroner says "at least 10" people were killed Friday in a fiery crash between a tractor-trailer and a van after the truck crossed over the median on an interstate highway in south-central Kentucky.

The van was carrying "men, women and children," Emergency Management Director Kerry McDaniel said. He said the tractor-trailer was going south on I-65 and crossed the median around 5:30 a.m. CDT, striking the van head-on near Munfordville, about 75 miles south of Louisville.

Hart County Coroner Jeff Roten confirmed the number dead in a phone call with The Associated Press.

The truck hit a rock wall and burst into flames. McDaniel said the truck's driver was killed.

Kentucky transportation officials say the interstate is expected to be closed for at least eight hours.

McDaniel said the truck was burned beyond recognition. Its cargo included automobile wheel castings.

The county's judge-executive, Terry Martin, said the stretch of interstate where the accident occurred can be treacherous because it narrows from three lanes to two for motorists going south into Hart County.

"That's where it seems like the bottleneck occurs," Martin said. "I don't know if they're just not seeing or slowing down, but it gets more congested."

Martin called it a "sad, sad situation."

 

[Brisco]

Look at this video:

YouTube - Kentucky Crash

Tragic..............

I always HATED running that part of I-65 between Elizabethtown and Bowling Green. Back during my FEMA days when I was driving a FEMA truck running trailers from Indiana down to the coast, Elizabethtown was our main stop off point going north to Indiana and south to the coast. Stayed many a nights there at that Super 8 off 65 & Mulberry.

I 65 from the Jeffersonville area all the way down to almost Nashville is probably the most dangerous and congested interstates in that whole 5-6 state area. Lots and lots of FedEx "Doubles" run that route from Memphis up to the Northeast, both north and south. They are TERRORS on that road. I have almost been ran flat out over by those guys many times, and have seen many many many close calls for other drivers too by those FedEx trucks. Not blaming FedEx for all the problems on that road, there's thousand of other trucks out there too driving dangerously on that stretch, but FedEx was the first to come mind about this accident. By looks of this video, this wasn't a FedEx truck. At least not this time.

 

[Scuba]

Seeing it in person was way worse than on tv. I was 10 trucks back and it was all made worse by the idiots in cars that piled up on the shoulders thinking they could get around. When the cops and fire/rescue units got there they were forced to turn around. And they had to go back to exit 58 and run north on 31 then back to the highway so they could go south in the north bound lanes. To get to the crash, i didn't see in any report that i saw so far about the trucker that got the 2 kids out of the van. The truck that was involved burnt to the point there wasn't any way to even tell what kind of truck it was it was nothing more than a drive train and a frame.

 

[Steady Eddie]

I was headed south, It was very bad. The van was on a rollback covered with a tarp. (Bodies were still traped inside). The truck left the south bound side and faced up to the rock wall. The trucks engine was laying about 30 feet away. He must have really been going fast to do that. Nothing was left of the truck and very little of the trailer...the cargo was all bunt up. It was not caused by the road going from three lanes to two. That T/T was moving very fast.

 

[Brisco]

The van was on a rollback covered with a tarp. (Bodies were still traped inside)

I just read an updated story on my homepage.

It is now 11 dead and they were taking the Van to another location to "respectively" remove the remaining victims from the vans interior.

 

[Turtle]

updated 1450 EDT 3/26/10

At least 11 killed in Kentucky crash

MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. - A truck crossed a Kentucky interstate median and slammed head-on into a Mennonite church van headed to a wedding, killing 11 people, state police said Friday. State police Trooper Charles Swiney said two children survived the crash with the tractor-trailer on northbound Interstate 65.

A pastor for the family in the van said they were Mennonites on their way to a wedding in Iowa. Authorities say the truck driver, who was from Alabama, was also killed.

Officials say the tractor-trailer crossed the median and struck the van head-on around 5:30 a.m. CDT near Munfordville, about 75 miles south of Louisville.

Traffic on the interstate remained at a standstill at mid-afternoon, with backups up to 5 miles long on the closed northbound side. Wreckage from the tractor trailer was strewn across the northbound I-65 lanes.The heavily damaged van was mostly shrouded with tarpaulins. A van bench seat rested on the road with two children's car seats attached.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was dispatching a team to investigate the crash.

Pastor Leroy Kauffman with the Marrowbone Christian Brotherhood in Burkesville, about 55 miles southeast of the crash site, says the two surviving children were taken to a nearby hospital. Joe Middleton, a supervisor at Caverna Memorial Hospital in Horse Cave, said two survivors from the accident were taken there and released around 10 a.m.

....

On May 14, 1988, 27 people were killed in a fiery bus crash caused by a drunken driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 in Carroll County. That bus was owned by the First Assembly of God church in Radcliff and was filled with youths returning from an amusement park.

 

[skyraider]

Omy, what a tragedy, mercy. Maybe those cables and fencing I see going up on I 40 are going to stop that from happening here in Tennessee so cars and trucks cant cross over to the other side of the interstate.

 

[Steady Eddie]

Omy, what a tragedy, mercy. Maybe those cables and fencing I see going up on I 40 are going to stop that from happening here in Tennessee so cars and trucks cant cross over to the other side of the interstate.

This part of I-65 had the cables. The truck blew by them like rubber bands! 5 surport post where laid flat, cables never slowed him down. They work ok I guess if hit at a glancing blow, but the truck made a B-line right into them. Looked like he came from the right lane and made a left.

 

[Steady Eddie]

I just read an updated story on my homepage.

It is now 11 dead and they were taking the Van to another location to "respectively" remove the remaining victims from the vans interior.

The van was exiting @ x58 and stopped on the ramp for a few, guess they were trying to find a spot. Not sure how they got the driver of the truck out...nothing left of the truck. I couldn't see it, just parts and an engine. He hit the rock wall almost stright head-on.

 

[wallytrucker1]

Rather than pass judgement on a dead driver and assume he was in the wrong, I would like to see what the investigation reveals. We have all heads of guys having heart attacks and other medical isues and passing out behind the wheel and crashing. Very tragic ,however. I had not heard antthing of a driver saving the two kids. Hopefully a media oversight.....

 

[Steady Eddie]

Well, he was either dead or dead asleep when his truck left the south bound side.

 

[MSinger]

This van was filled with a Mennonite family from Marrowbone, KY who were headed to a wedding in Iowa. They also had a son who was killed while on a mission trip to the Ukraine a few years ago. This past December their home burnt to the ground. The Mennonite community rebuilt the house in a week. They wrote and sang a song in memory of their son who was killed and someone made a music video out of it and posted it on youtube in Dec. of 2009. Very sad story but beautiful song and video.
YouTube - Home By The Eshes

 

[jw-bama]

Well, he was either dead or dead asleep when his truck left the south bound side.

nobody knows yet, they are doing the medical work on his body to see if something did happen to him b-4. he was a veteran truckdriver with a wife and 3 kids of his own,good christian man that loved his family. his wife works with my niece at a mental health center and they are having a rough time.he would have given his life for anyone of the people

 

[Brisco]

What is this guy talking about???

Article on EO's homepage:
Expediters Online.com - The Expedited Freight Information Center

Message left in article:

we don't know much details about this accident. Where are the CB recordings? Why did the truck cross the divider? Did it try to avoid something on the road?
Was there a "CLIP" distress call on the CB?

I haven't had a "CB" in years, they're worthless. But, can you now record your CB discussions??? Never heard of it.

What is a "CLIP Distress" Call???

Is this guy a complete moron or what?

It'll be months until we learn what actually happened in this accident. I am leaning towards a "driver fell asleep" opinion though due to this one statement here from the NTSB.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board say tread marks indicated Laymon may have hit his brakes just before slamming into the van.

They didn't elaborate very well, but did make it sound like brakes were not applied until truck had already crossed median and "just before" slamming into van. So, in theory, crossing median awoke driver and then driver attempted to gain control of truck again.

My opinion, that's all, and will gladly accept whatever the truth may be that caused this accident when it is learned.

Now, you guys be careful what you say on those CB gadgets. You never know who is recording what you say.