Two airlifted from Vilas wreck
by Kellen Moore
Two people were airlifted and others rushed to Watauga Medical
Center after a Thursday morning wreck on U.S. 421 in Vilas.
A third was later flown to Carolinas Medical Center from the Boone hospital.
The 10 a.m. accident in front of B & B Mini Mart involved six vehicles, including one tractor-trailer.
A line of vehicles headed toward Boone — a blue pickup, a white pickup, a gray SUV, and a red and black Dodge Ram — had stopped or were slowing for a vehicle turning left, said Trooper W.E. Hall of the N.C. Highway Patrol.
A Reinhart Food Service tractor-trailer also traveling toward Boone slammed into the back of the line, sending each vehicle into the one in front of it, Hall said. A Chevrolet Trailblazer headed toward Sugar Grove narrowly missed the collision and was hit by debris.
The Dodge Ram pickup incurred the brunt of the damage, its bed crunched toward the cab and the roof removed by rescuers to reach the entrapped passengers. A tool box in the bed of the truck was thrust upward, and clothes and personal items from inside the vehicle were strewn across the highway.
The driver of the Dodge, 57-year-old Gary Dugger of Mountain City, Tenn., and his passenger, 58-year-old Darlene Furches of Mountain City, Tenn., were airlifted from a landing zone off Linville Creek Road to Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee. The extent of their injuries was unknown Thursday. Dugger was in the intensive care unit as of Friday morning, while Furches was in a regular room, according to the medical center.
Four others involved were rushed to Watauga Medical Center, Hall said. Two were treated and released, while a third was flown to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, he said.
According to Sgt. Smith of the N.C. Highway Patrol, the other injured parties were:
- Catherine Groene, 63, of Zionville — driver of the gray Acura SUV
- Gina Razete, 56, of Zionville — passenger of the gray Acura SUV
- Paul Trivette, 28, of Boone — driver of the white pickup
-Robert Hicks, 49, of Vilas — passenger of the white pickup
Timothy Hodges, 19, of Boone, was driving the blue pickup and was not injured, Smith said.
Two dogs that were inside the gray Acura SUV were taken to a veterinarian.
Melanie Murphy of Spruce Pine was driving the Chevrolet Trailblazer when the accident happened right in front of her vehicle. The fender of the tractor-trailer flew up and hit the windshield of the SUV, shattering the glass, but Murphy managed to pull off the road without injury.
"I ran back toward the accident, and I could hear the lady crying in the red truck," Murphy said. "I knew somebody was alive. ... It was awful because there wasn't really anything we could do."
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Jason Johnson, 37, of Powell, Tenn., was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, Hall said. He was not injured in the accident.
The road was closed until about 1 p.m., and crews rerouted vehicles along Linville Creek Road while responders and wreckers cleared the scene.
A third was later flown to Carolinas Medical Center from the Boone hospital.
The 10 a.m. accident in front of B & B Mini Mart involved six vehicles, including one tractor-trailer.
A line of vehicles headed toward Boone — a blue pickup, a white pickup, a gray SUV, and a red and black Dodge Ram — had stopped or were slowing for a vehicle turning left, said Trooper W.E. Hall of the N.C. Highway Patrol.
A Reinhart Food Service tractor-trailer also traveling toward Boone slammed into the back of the line, sending each vehicle into the one in front of it, Hall said. A Chevrolet Trailblazer headed toward Sugar Grove narrowly missed the collision and was hit by debris.
The Dodge Ram pickup incurred the brunt of the damage, its bed crunched toward the cab and the roof removed by rescuers to reach the entrapped passengers. A tool box in the bed of the truck was thrust upward, and clothes and personal items from inside the vehicle were strewn across the highway.
The driver of the Dodge, 57-year-old Gary Dugger of Mountain City, Tenn., and his passenger, 58-year-old Darlene Furches of Mountain City, Tenn., were airlifted from a landing zone off Linville Creek Road to Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee. The extent of their injuries was unknown Thursday. Dugger was in the intensive care unit as of Friday morning, while Furches was in a regular room, according to the medical center.
Four others involved were rushed to Watauga Medical Center, Hall said. Two were treated and released, while a third was flown to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, he said.
According to Sgt. Smith of the N.C. Highway Patrol, the other injured parties were:
- Catherine Groene, 63, of Zionville — driver of the gray Acura SUV
- Gina Razete, 56, of Zionville — passenger of the gray Acura SUV
- Paul Trivette, 28, of Boone — driver of the white pickup
-Robert Hicks, 49, of Vilas — passenger of the white pickup
Timothy Hodges, 19, of Boone, was driving the blue pickup and was not injured, Smith said.
Two dogs that were inside the gray Acura SUV were taken to a veterinarian.
Melanie Murphy of Spruce Pine was driving the Chevrolet Trailblazer when the accident happened right in front of her vehicle. The fender of the tractor-trailer flew up and hit the windshield of the SUV, shattering the glass, but Murphy managed to pull off the road without injury.
"I ran back toward the accident, and I could hear the lady crying in the red truck," Murphy said. "I knew somebody was alive. ... It was awful because there wasn't really anything we could do."
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Jason Johnson, 37, of Powell, Tenn., was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, Hall said. He was not injured in the accident.
The road was closed until about 1 p.m., and crews rerouted vehicles along Linville Creek Road while responders and wreckers cleared the scene.
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