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ISLAND PARK, Idaho — Terah Motzkus and her husband, young kids and mother-in-law had just finished a nice dinner in West Yellowstone. It was Thursday around 7 p.m., and the Utah family began driving back to their cabin in Island Park.
As they approached the Henrys Lake area, they saw something ahead of them on U.S. 20.
"There was smoke, and it looked like a big semi had rolled over, but as we got closer, we saw it was two different vehicles mashed into each other," Motzkus tells EastIdahoNews.com.
The family stopped, and Motzkus and her husband jumped out. In front of them was a red Dodge Ram pickup truck and a Mercedes van that were smashed together.
"My husband ran over to the truck and tried to check on the driver. He saw his leg, but the driver wasn't responding at all," Motzkus recalls. "Then we ran over to the van where four adults and a little girl had already gotten out. We could see one passenger in the van and his hand was badly mangled. He was just saying, 'Help! Help!'"
Motzkus could hear people trapped in the back of the van. Her husband ran to their car and grabbed an ax to try and break the van windows.
Another passerby rushed over with a pry bar and tried to peel back a door, but "it just bent the pry bar," Motzkus says.
"When we got there, there was a little fire under the van. As others started showing up, I was yelling to find a fire extinguisher," Motzkus says. "Someone ran up with a fire extinguisher, but it really didn't do much."
People rushed over with water bottles and dumped them on the fire, but the flames only grew. A Fremont County sheriff's deputy arrived and tried to extinguish the blaze without success. Smoke was filling the van, and a woman inside was gasping for air, Motzkus says.
"Another girl and I were pulling on a door with all our strength," Motzkus says, her voice choking with emotion. "It was just hard because we knew people were still in there. Everyone was just trying their best to get those doors open."
The deputy was able to break the back window and drag a passenger out to safety. The man's femur was badly broken, and his leg was dangling, Motzkus recalls. Bystanders helped pull another man out of a front window and then a woman.
"She had a really bad laceration on her thigh. I grabbed some diapers from my car, and she was in shock. She just kept saying, 'What happened? What happened?'" Motzkus says.
Within seconds, large flames engulfed both the van and pickup truck. Motzkus felt helpless, knowing people were inside, but wanted to help the passengers who escaped.
There was a couple, likely in their 50s, a mom who looked to be in her 30s with a 6-year-old girl, another man in his 30s, a woman likely in her late 20s and a man in his 50s or 60s. The driver of the van had a California driver's license. The passengers included 12 Chinese nationals and one of Italian nationality, according to Idaho State Police.
"One of them – a woman – asked me to find her friend. She told me her name and kept saying, 'Is my friend OK?' I ran over to the other side and was never able to find the friend. I didn't want to tell her she was probably inside," Motzkus says through tears.
A medical helicopter arrived, along with several ambulances and other first responders. The Motzkuses stayed on the scene for about an hour before going back to the cabin.
"The whole drive we cried, and then I cried myself to sleep," she says. "You go through all the scenarios of 'what if.' What if we had been able to get the door open or break a window or help someone else out. Then we think that it could have been us. We were right there with our babies in the car."
Seven people died in the crash, including the driver of the pickup. Three of the van occupants were airlifted to hospitals – one to Bozeman, Montana, and two to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, according to Idaho State Police.
The others were taken by ambulance to Madison Memorial Hospital with injuries believed to be non-life-threatening.
The driver of the pickup truck has been identified as Isaiah Moreno, 25, of Humble, Texas. Police say the identification of others involved will take time "due to the complexity of the incident."
The group was traveling to Yellowstone National Park on an excursion organized by Ctour Holiday, a large-scale tour operator that provides international travel services.
Those who died in the crash will be transported to the Ada County Coroner's Office for autopsies and formal confirmation of identity.
U.S. 20 was closed for seven hours before reopening Friday morning. A large black burn scar can be seen on the road and in shrubbery next to the highway where the crash happened – a harsh reminder of a tragic evening Motzkus will never forget.
"I just keep thinking about their families. It was so horrible," she says.
