A driver was trapped inside a mangled vehicle for about an hour Tuesday after a rollover crash near U.S. Highway 378 and Capitola Road in Florence County, before being airlifted to a hospital. The crash shut down part of the highway as emergency crews worked to free the person from the wreckage.
According to WPDE, the driver ran off Highway 378 near Capitola Road, overturned and struck a tree, an account attributed to Florence County Fire Rescue. The driver was trapped inside the wreckage once the vehicle came to rest, per that same account.
Firefighters were dispatched to the scene around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to WBTW, responding to the intersection of U.S. Highway 378 and Capitola Road. Crews used the Jaws of Life and spent roughly an hour extricating the driver from the crushed vehicle, Florence County Fire Rescue said.
Driver Flown From Kingsburg-Area Fire Station
Once freed, the driver was taken by Johnsonville Rescue Squad to a nearby fire station in the Kingsburg area, where a helicopter then flew the driver to an area hospital, the report notes. Highway 378 was temporarily shut down while crews worked the scene, snarling traffic in the area as first responders cleared the wreckage.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating what caused the crash. Florence County Fire Rescue provided information on the response.
Other Serious Crashes in Florence County
Tuesday's wreck came three days after another serious crash in Florence County. On Oct. 17, a 2010 Honda SUV ran off the road, struck a tree and overturned in a separate Florence County crash, killing a passenger at the scene and seriously injuring the driver, according to The State.
Other crashes have also occurred in the county. A two-vehicle crash at Highway 378 and Halfmoon Road injured multiple people and ejected one person from a vehicle, with the westbound lane closed for an extended period due to extensive cleanup, per WBTW. Another single-vehicle rollover in Florence County also left a driver trapped before firefighters pulled the person out safely and sent them to the hospital, the station reported separately.
State traffic data compiled by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety's Statistics Section, which maintains the state's collision database for its Office of Highway Safety, shows that vehicles in transport made up the largest share of fatal collisions statewide in a recent accounting, at 378 crashes, or 38.7 percent, according to the agency's 2023 Traffic Collision Fact Book. No cause has been confirmed for Tuesday's crash, and the Highway Patrol's investigation remains ongoing.
