Overturned truck on Summerland Avenue traps two, closes road Friday evening

Batesburg-Leesville, SC (Paul Kirby) Two people were heavily entrapped in a truck that overturned near 1012 Summerland Ave. in the Batesburg-Leesville area. The accident, which happened at approximately 5:15 p.m. Friday, blocked the entire road as Batesburg-Leesville firefighters, assisted by personnel from Lexington County, worked to free the people that were trapped from the twisted truck.

One of the victims was freed quickly and handed off to EMS personnel; however it took about 30 minutes for the firefighters to free the second victim who was heavily entangled in the wreckage. Once that person was cut from the truck, they were loaded into a waiting EMS unit and a firefighter drove that truck to the trauma center at Palmetto Richland while the EMS crew attended to the seriously injured patient in the back.

The Batesburg-Leesville FD had multiple units on the scene and were backed up by trucks and personnel from Lexington County’s Gilbert, Cedar Creek, Hollow Creek, and the Lexington fire stations. Chief Jay Hendrix from B&L FD was in command and Lexington County also had a battalion chief and an EMS supervisor on the scene. Most units had cleared the scene by 6:00 p.m. and the scene was turned over to a trooper from the SCHP who was investigating the cause of the accident. The condition of the patents is not known at this point.