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ST. GEORGE — A family of four was severely injured after rear-ending a semitruck on Interstate 15 in Arizona Tuesday afternoon.
The incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. on I-15 at mile marker 11, in the area of a construction zone near the Virgin River Gorge.
As the driver of a rented 2019 GMC Acadia approached traffic that was backed up due to the construction, he didn’t to notice that the vehicles in front of him had slowed and swerved into the outside lane around some slower vehicles, Arizona Department of Public Safety Sgt. John Bottoms said. The SUV then slammed into the back of a stopped semitractor-trailer at a speed of about 60 mph.
The driver of the semitruck was uninjured, but all four passengers in the GMC suffered severe injuries, Bottoms said.
The family was visiting Southern Utah from Italy and were unable to speak English, making it difficult for responders to effectively communicate with them.
The mother, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was trapped in the vehicle after it became wedged beneath the trailer. Firefighters were able to extract the woman from the vehicle after cutting off the car doors and pillars and removing the roof.
