Incident # 24-00823 - A multi-vehicle MVC occurred on I-95 at the 53 mile marker southbound, Wednesday morning 31-January at 05:28. A semi-truck collided with a small car carrier causing heavy damage to both vehicles. They came to rest in the outside lane and breakdown lane, with debris littering the southbound lanes. A Ford Transit van being hauled on the car carrier was dislodged and heavily damaged. The van landed on the shoulder. The Dodge pickup truck, car carrier trailer and the two other vehicles being hauled were damaged as well. The semi-truck received substantial damage in the collision, dislodging the front axle and breaching the fuel tanks, before catching fire. Diesel fuel covered the scene. The driver's of both vehicles were not injured, however the passenger in the semi-truck, who was asleep at the time, received non-life threatening injuries. He was treated at the scene by Firefighter-Paramedics, then transported to Colleton Medical Center by Fire-Rescue Medic 26. Engine 1 found the semi-truck's cab fully involved when they arrived. Crews deployed one handline to extinguish the fire, which destroyed the cab on the semi-truck. The front of the trailer was also damaged. Southbound traffic was at a standstill for over an hour and backed up for five miles. Fortunately the MVC occurred just south of Exit 53, so traffic was able to exit to Sniders Hwy. (SC Hwy 63) and detour to other routes. One lane was reopened after an hour. Several large wreckers from Geralds' and Eric Bailey's Towing responded and worked for several hours to clear the accident. The SC Highway Patrol is investigating the accident.
