Rt. 119 van, motor home crash claims life
BULLSKIN TWP. – The top and sides of what was once a mini van lay strewn across an embankment Friday evening at the intersection of Route 119 and Kingview Road where a Connellsville area woman was killed and four others injured, including a child. Larry Stillwagon, assistant fire chief for Bullskin Township Volunteer Fire Company, said the accident occurred around 7 p.m., when the van, driven by the woman and a motor home collided.
Stillwagon said the child, a passenger in the van, was transported by medical helicopter to Children’s Hospital and a passenger flown to UPMC Presbyterian, both in Pittsburgh, while two other passengers were transported by Fayette EMS to Excela Health Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant.
Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly said the identities of the woman and the passengers in the van would be released pending notification of next of kin.
Reilly added an autopsy would be performed on the woman.
Meanwhile, Stillwagon said several people had to be extricated from the van, while the driver of the motor home was repoprtedly not injured.
Both northbound lanes were shut down and traffic was detoured for more than two hours as emergency personnel from state police at Uniontown, Connellsville Township Volunteer Fire Company and Everson Volunteer Fire Company assisted at the scene.
The wreckage of the van was located close to a memorial that marked the site of another accident at the same intersection in 2003.
“This reminds me of the accident where the bride and her mother were killed,” said Stillwagon of yet another tragedy at the same intersection.
Roger Victor of the coroner’s office said the intersection has claimed the lives of at least six people. “It’s a very hazardous place,” said Victor.
Victor added that Jessie Langer, deputy coroner, pronounced the woman dead at the scene at 8:31 p.m.
Victor said he couldn’t confirm whether the woman was restrained, noting the van was torn apart from having to extricate the other people.
Further information was not available by press time.
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