October 08, 2008 01:16 pm
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Jasper County Coroner Jerry Neil confirmed this morning that one person is dead in a chain-reaction accident on Interstate 44.
Witnesses describe a horrific scene just before 7 a.m. near mile marker 13.
“I was just so thankful I wasn’t in it. I was so close,” said Lawrence Schultz, who was eastbound on his way to work from his home in Baxter Springs, Kan., to Carthage.
“It was just really foggy, it was really bad,” he said.
Schultz said he could smell rubber from the brakes of vehicles ahead of his as those drivers attempted to avoid the first of the wrecks, which occurred between two semi-trucks. A third semi lost control as it came upon the scene. Several trucks and cars were involved in subsequent reactions.
Schultz said he heard several explosions after safely stopping and witnessed a man and woman, both injured, walking around the area.
“His shirt was burned up, his hand was bleeding real bad. I just happened to be running late and I am feeling lucky,” Schultz said.
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