danielle
11-21-2002, 05:32 PM
Five dead after prison van collides with truck
Four inmates, one guard die in Seward Highway crash
The Associated Press
(Published: November 19, 2002)
Five people were killed Tuesday when a tractor-trailer truck crossed the center line and smashed into a van transporting prisoners to Seward, Alaska State Troopers said.
Four inmates and one correctional officer were killed in the accident on the Seward Highway about 20 miles north of the Kenai Peninsula city.
Troopers said the accident occurred at about 12:30 p.m.
The driver of the van, James Hesterberg, 48, of Wasilla, was killed.
The names of the dead inmates were not immediately released.
Four other people were injured, said trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson. Three of the injured were taken to the Providence Seward Medical Center in Seward. One of the injured, correctional officer Dennis Nilsen, 49, of Eagle River, was in stable condition.
Two injured inmates were airlifted to a hospital in Anchorage.
Wilkinson said the van was taking prisoners from a corrections facility in Palmer north of Anchorage to the Spring Creek Correctional Facility in Seward. It was raining and snowing when the truck, which was headed north, crossed the center line and hit the southbound van, he said.
The accident occurred on one of the most treacherous yet scenic stretches of highway in Alaska.
Dawn Campbell, who owns the I.R.B.I. knife shop with her husband Virgil, said a woman ran into the store and told her of the accident a quarter-mile away. She and her husband called troopers and a local EMT crew, and gave the woman some road flares.
Campbell said she then ran to the accident site to see if she could help. She said the van was upside down and on the other side of the guard rail.
"All I could hear was people moaning and yells," she said. "It just ripped your heart out."
One of her neighbors handed out blankets.
Campbell said the accident occurred on a bad corner where there have been several other accidents.
"It has always been ugly," Campbell said. "There have been several wrecks through the years."
It had just started snowing on roads that were glare ice that morning, she said.
"It was pretty darn slick," Campbell said.
The driver of the truck, owned by C&C Investments in Fairbanks, was not injured.
The two-lane highway, which is the only road that connects Anchorage to Seward, was temporarily reduced to one lane after the accident. It was later reopened.
Wilkinson said EMT teams from Moose Pass, Seward and Crown Point responded. Troopers at the Soldotna, Seward and Girdwood barracks also were notified, as well as various state and federal agencies.
Four inmates, one guard die in Seward Highway crash
The Associated Press
(Published: November 19, 2002)
Five people were killed Tuesday when a tractor-trailer truck crossed the center line and smashed into a van transporting prisoners to Seward, Alaska State Troopers said.
Four inmates and one correctional officer were killed in the accident on the Seward Highway about 20 miles north of the Kenai Peninsula city.
Troopers said the accident occurred at about 12:30 p.m.
The driver of the van, James Hesterberg, 48, of Wasilla, was killed.
The names of the dead inmates were not immediately released.
Four other people were injured, said trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson. Three of the injured were taken to the Providence Seward Medical Center in Seward. One of the injured, correctional officer Dennis Nilsen, 49, of Eagle River, was in stable condition.
Two injured inmates were airlifted to a hospital in Anchorage.
Wilkinson said the van was taking prisoners from a corrections facility in Palmer north of Anchorage to the Spring Creek Correctional Facility in Seward. It was raining and snowing when the truck, which was headed north, crossed the center line and hit the southbound van, he said.
The accident occurred on one of the most treacherous yet scenic stretches of highway in Alaska.
Dawn Campbell, who owns the I.R.B.I. knife shop with her husband Virgil, said a woman ran into the store and told her of the accident a quarter-mile away. She and her husband called troopers and a local EMT crew, and gave the woman some road flares.
Campbell said she then ran to the accident site to see if she could help. She said the van was upside down and on the other side of the guard rail.
"All I could hear was people moaning and yells," she said. "It just ripped your heart out."
One of her neighbors handed out blankets.
Campbell said the accident occurred on a bad corner where there have been several other accidents.
"It has always been ugly," Campbell said. "There have been several wrecks through the years."
It had just started snowing on roads that were glare ice that morning, she said.
"It was pretty darn slick," Campbell said.
The driver of the truck, owned by C&C Investments in Fairbanks, was not injured.
The two-lane highway, which is the only road that connects Anchorage to Seward, was temporarily reduced to one lane after the accident. It was later reopened.
Wilkinson said EMT teams from Moose Pass, Seward and Crown Point responded. Troopers at the Soldotna, Seward and Girdwood barracks also were notified, as well as various state and federal agencies.