Several hurt in 3-semi accident on I-70

Missouri Highway Patrol troopers walk down I-70 toward the scene of an accident that injured several people Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018.
Missouri Highway Patrol troopers walk down I-70 toward the scene of an accident that injured several people Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018.

KINGDOM CITY - Ramy Salinas, of Tampa, Florida, was sitting in front of his hotel room about 7:25 a.m. Wednesday when he heard the first crash.

What he heard next sent him running toward the highway.

"It was like an explosion," he said. "It rattled the ground and everything. There was paper flying through the air."

That wasn't all Salinas saw. A semi-trailer cab was smashed open like a crater, its trailer jackknifed across the highway.

Two more semis laid mangled off the shoulder of Interstate 70's westbound lanes, near the Kingdom City off ramp. Debris was scattered everywhere, and the incongruous smell of beer - leaking from one semi's trailer - filled the air.

Troop F's public information officer, Sgt. Scott White, confirmed at noon Wednesday that no one died in the accident. However, according to the MSHP's crash report, two received serious injuries and one minor injuries.

The crash report lays out the sequence of events. Sy Yacouba, 32, of Bronx, New York, was slowing his 2011 Freightliner Cascadia 125 down to exit I-70 when a 2018 Freightliner driven by John Currey, 55, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, struck it from behind.

Then, the 2000 Kenworth W900 driven by Larry Skates, of Arcadia, Florida, struck Yacouba's vehicle. Skates' vehicle stopped in the road while Currey and Yacouba's ended up off the road's right side. All three vehicles were totalled.

The accident report stated Currey and his passenger Sandra Venezia (no age or place of residence listed) both received serious injuries, while Yacouba had minor injuries. All three were transported to the University Hospital in Columbia.

Helping hands

Salinas was in the area to visit his mother. He's a man who once stopped traffic in Florida so ducklings could cross the street. He felt compelled to help.

At the scene, he remembered helping a man exit a green truck cab. Then Salinas turned his attention to the 2018 Freightliner's occupants.

Currey was still strapped in, Salinas said. The cab of another semi crashed through the passenger side, narrowly missing him. The driver managed to exit without too much difficulty, and Salinas moved into the back portion of the cab where he found Venezia lying under a blanket.

"There was so much blood," he said.

Salinas described Venezia's injuries: A long gash across her forehead and a smashed leg with the bone exposed. Salinas lost his phone in the depths of the cab's floor after nearly falling through it while attempting to pull out the woman.

"After that, I started throwing up," he said. "In the movies, people always vomit when they see something like that, and I thought it was silly - but it just happened. It was the most terrible thing I've ever seen in real life."

Salinas said he backed off and let the professionals handle the woman's extraction.

Will Gentner, a maintenance man at the Frontier Motel where Salinas was staying, was also a witness.

"God gives you trials," he said. "(Salinas) passed it today, and I failed."

Gentner called authorities after hearing the commotion. The scene was chaotic. He said a dog who had been riding in the blue cab ran across the highway. It was later caught at a nearby gas station, he added.

Gentner expressed regret about not jumping in to help and said he plans to take emergency response training in the near future so he's better prepared.

Huddled together near the scene, other witnesses spoke in worried tones about the crash victims.

"I've prayed multiple times already for that woman," Gentner said.

"Once I know she's OK, I'll feel a lot better," Salinas added.

Kent Wood, environmental specialist for the Callaway County Health Department, said Highway Patrol troopers planned to close a westbound lane of I-70 at 10 p.m. Wednesday to remove the two remaining semis involved in the crash. The blue-cabbed semi was towed away Wednesday morning.

Wood said he was called to the scene to inspect the blue semi's cargo: The dripping beer.

"The load of alcoholic beverages has been deemed destroyed and will be taken to the landfill," Wood said.

Highway Patrol troopers closed the busy interstate while clearing the blue tractor-trailer's remains. Rush-hour traffic was backed up at least to the Route Z overpass, 4 miles away. White reported two more accidents occurred among the backed-up vehicles, though no one was injured in either incident.

The Callaway County Sheriff's Department also responded to the scene to aid in traffic control.