| Rescue crews work to extract the injured man from the van just north of Huntington. |
On March 19 at approximately 3:15 p.m. there was an accident just north of Huntington. A Nielson Construction coal truck was traveling southbound in the outside lane of traffic when it was hit by a van traveling northbound.
The truck driver said he had just come around the corner and saw the van in the inside lane traveling north. It looked like the van had stopped and then just started heading towards the truck. The truck driver left the road trying to avoid a head-on collision with the van. The truck ended up off the road with the back trailer down in the barrowpit and the front trailer off the road as well. The cab of the truck was on the side of the road. The driver was able to avoid the head-on collision and the van struck the truck on the first trailer at the rear axle, severing the axle and blowing the tire. The van glanced off the truck and came to rest facing south in the inside lane of the southbound traffic.
A number of vehicles were in the area at the time of the accident and called for help and stopped and slowed down traffic around the accident. Emergency vehicles arrived on the scene from Huntington, Castle Dale, Cleveland and Elmo. The occupant of the van was a male named James Prettyman who was extracted from the van and taken to Castleview Hospital in Price. Firefighters and rescuers reported the man was hurt pretty badly but should recover just fine. In looking at the van, onlookers said it is a miracle the driver survived the crash.
| The coal truck drives off the road to avoid head-on collision. |
The Cleveland and Castle Dale fire departments have extraction equipment and they assisted at the scene. A cable was attached to the front of the vehicle and the front of the car was pulled forward to release the man. The paramedics then reached the man from inside the van where his neck was stabilized and he was put on a backboard and then into the ambulance.
The accident is under investigation and it isn’t known why the van crossed the centerline into oncoming traffic.