Crash kills 1; rescue workers injured


Staff Report

Last update: 06 September 2003


PIERSON -- A Friday afternoon car accident left one dead and two rescue workers trying to free a critically injured survivor were themselves hurt.

The accident at the intersection of State Road 17 and Purdom Cemetery Road trapped one person so tightly in a vehicle that Volusia County firefighters and emergency medical technicians spent an hour and 10 minutes working to free the survivor, EVAC spokesman Mark O'Keefe said.

A 1991 sedan carrying four people was traveling south on S.R. 17 and tried to avoid a car turning onto S.R. 17, then skidded across the road and hit a tree, Florida Highway Patrol investigators said.

The identities of the victims and many details were not available Friday night.


The rescue attempt was complicated by a late-afternoon thunderstorm. Then, a firefighter and EMT were sprayed in the eyes by fluid from extraction equipment. Both were taken to hospitals; their conditions were not available.