Fort Worth accident – Nurse crawls out of deadly 136-car Texas crash then goes to WORK
A NURSE crawled out of a deadly 136-car crash and went to work yesterday morning. Rebecca Benson was involved in a huge Fort Worth highway crash that killed at least six people and left 65 hospitalized. The brave nurse managed to crawl of the pileup unscathed and went straight to work. “I am unbelievably blessed,” Benson […]
A NURSE crawled out of a deadly 136-car crash and went to work yesterday morning.
Rebecca Benson was involved in a huge Fort Worth highway crash that killed at least six people and left 65 hospitalized.
The brave nurse managed to crawl of the pileup unscathed and went straight to work.
“I am unbelievably blessed,” Benson told ABC13 for surviving the terrifying scene, which she described as “like a zombie movie.”
Benson said she was driving to work around 6.30am when her car slid on the icy interstate.
She said she tried not to spin out and realized she could not stop and crashed into a semi truck.
Benson said she shook in her car every time another vehicle hit the pile.
“I looked in my rearview mirror and can see all of these cars heading towards me,” she said.
“That was the scariest part, knowing that I survived this part but now the chances of me getting completely smashed by all the cars and semis behind me.”
A motorist eventually helped her out of her car.
Benson immediately called a colleague and got a ride to the hospital where she works, helping others before getting checked out.
At her husband’s urging, Benson got an evaluation for her neck and shoulder pain and left elbow which was “bruised to the high-heavens.”
Another survivor, Alicia Stone, said that she chose to take this route to work as she hoped it would be “a little bit safer” during the icy weather.
However, she quickly found herself involved in the deathly crash.
“I was hitting my brakes, they wouldn’t work,” Stone told a local ABC affiliate.
“After that, I got hit probably four or five times from behind, just from people piling up, from the hits. So, I stayed in my car until there were no more hits.”
She added: “There were cars stacked on top of cars, you could just hear them yelling, but no one could do anything.”
Stone’s car was wedged between semi trucks, but she was luckily able to crawl out of the window and call her husband, Heath, who is the operations manager for MedStar ambulance service.
“I couldn’t hear anything else except cars continuing to smash in the background,” Heath told the outlet.
“That noise you hear as a first responder– after years and years of hearing it, the collision noises, you just know what’s going on.”
Stone was transported to hospital where she was later discharged. Her husband stayed at the scene to help other victims.
Masses of mangled cars and trucks were seen slamming into each other in horrifying footage, leaving metal and other debris strewn across the road.
Rescue teams fought to cut trapped people from their vehicles, with many taken to hospital with serious injuries following the severe smash.
The exact cause of the massive crash is unclear, but a brutal storm and overnight sleet is understood to have made for treacherous conditions.
The road, however, “may not have been properly treated by the operator” which could have contributed to the cause of the crash, Texas state Sen. Beverly Powell told Fox News.
Officials were still searching into the afternoon through cars and trucks to make sure no one was still stuck inside after vehicles were left with “extensive damage.”
MedStar confirmed that dozens of people were injured, with some people being in critical condition, according to a local NBC affiliate reporter.
Spokesperson Matt Zavadsky told WFAA: “One of the on scene crews said we need additional ambulances and the dispatch center said, ‘How many do you need?’ And they said all of them.”
By around 10.30am, emergency responders said most of those trapped in their vehicles had been rescued.
There are at least 65 people hospitalized, with injuries ranging from minor to severe, Officer Brad Perez confirmed to The Sun.
Footage, reportedly from the scene, showed several cars that were damaged.
Some vehicles were strewn across the freeway, and several huge trucks appeared to be involved.
The incident happened while the region is under a winter weather advisory.
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At least 24 fire units responded to the huge pileup, Spectrum News reported.
Police confirmed that the incident was due to the weather and for drivers to expect “lengthy delays.”
The city experienced overnight freezing rain and some sleet, according to the Star Telegram.