Death toll from multi-vehicle accident in Okla. rises to 10
OKLAHOMA CITY - The death toll from a chain-reaction accident on an Oklahoma turnpike has risen to 10.
Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo., said yesterday that 35-year-old Shelby Hayes of Frisco, Texas, had died.
She had been in critical condition with head, internal, and external injuries after Friday’s crash.
Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., said yesterday that the condition of 12-year-old Andrea Reyes of Phoenix was upgraded from critical to serious.
Some victims of the accident had been trapped in the wreckage for up to nine hours after a tractor-trailer slammed into cars that had stopped on the highway because of a previous accident.
Prosecutors will be deciding whether to bring charges against the 76-year-old trucker blamed in the chain-reaction crash, based on results of the police investigation.
He’s hospitalized in good condition with a number of injuries.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lieutenant George Brown said the investigation is underway, as is routine after a fatal accident.
Brown said the tractor-trailer slammed into at least three cars, which then crashed into more vehicles that had been stopped on the Will Rogers Turnpike. 