A mother was killed when her car crumpled beneath a tractor-trailer truck on Interstate 24 Monday morning.
The three children who were with her freed themselves from the twisted metal and shattered glass of the badly crushed vehicle. None were seriously injured, authorities said.
The accident backed up traffic on I-24 East near Moccasin Bend for 11 miles. Witnesses told authorities the children, all under 10 years old, were seen pulling themselves out of the Nissan. Bystanders then led the youngsters to safety.
“There were three kids and an angel in the car,” Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services Director Ken Wilkerson said.
Emergency personnel work the scene where one woman died when her car collided with a tractor trailer around 9:20 a.m. Monday on Interstate 24 eastbound. The wreck shut down the interstate for several hours.By the time the paramedics arrived, Wilkerson said, people were walking with the children down the interstate. The mother, 27-year-old Cassandra Mason of Nebraska, was pronounced dead at the scene. Firefighters had to use the motorized Jaws of Life tool to pry the driver’s side door off to get to Mason.