RICHMOND COUNTY – Emergency crews were active Thursday night on Highway 74 Bypass West following a three-vehicle accident, two of which were tractor trailers.
One person was airlifted by the UNC Tarheel 2 medical helicopter and two other passengers were transported to a local hospital when two tractor trailer trucks and a passenger car were involved in a crash just before Exit 311.
Initially, emergency crews were dispatched at 7:54 p.m. to a single vehicle accident where a passenger vehicle had over turned multiple times striking a guardrail and resting in the outside lane of traffic.
An oncoming tractor trailer, unable to avoid the rolled over vehicle, struck the vehicle while resting in the outside lane of travel.
A driver of a second tractor trailer traveling in the westbound inside lane tried to bring his vehicle to a stop, but failed to do so when his load shifted, twisting the trailer and causing some of its load of wire to enter the highway.
Wire and debris littered the 74 West bypass Thursday following and three-car pileup.
Both lanes of the highway were closed for a considerable amount of time so that all vehicles and materials could be removed from the roadway.
Responding units to the accident included Cordova Fire Rescue, FirstHealth Richmond EMS, UNC Carolina Air Care, Richmond County Sheriff’s Department and the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
At the time of this publication, the accident was still under investigation by the Highway Patrol.