Four teens injured in Fort Gay crash

Four Tolsia High School students were injured in a crash involving a coal truck near the Marathon station in Fort Gay, W.Va., on U.S. 52 Tuesday afternoon, March 15.

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

FORT GAY, W.Va. — Four Tolsia High School students were injured in a crash involving a coal truck near the Marathon station in Fort Gay, W.Va., on U.S. 52 Tuesday afternoon, March 15.

Two of the teens were extricated from the vehicle by the Louisa and Fort Gay volunteer fire departments and flown to an area hospital, while two others were transported by ambulance.

Krystal Keene, the mother of one of the teens, said her daughter and three of her friends were on their way to meet another softball player to ride to practice. Their vehicle was rear-ended by a coal truck driver as they were pulling into the Marathon, where they were going to pick up a fifth person, she said.

“They were turning into Marathon to pick up the other girl, and the truck got them then as they were turning. They weren’t completely stopped,” Keene said. “The girl they were going to pick up, ran up to the car after they stopped spinning, she seen it all happen and got my daughter’s phone and called me from it.”

Keene also said that three walked away from the hospital with minimal scrapes and bruises, and that the fourth teen had a concussion and was vomiting all night, so they kept her for observation, but that she is doing well.

Tolsia High School Principal Trevor Little, said in an interview with WSAZ that the collision was “very frightening, super shocking,” and “your immediate reaction is that you want to get to them.

“You want to be there to support to see if everyone is okay,” he said.

Little also said that they are “all great students, all very involved, not just in things academically, but in extracurricular activities and those sorts of things.”

People who were present at the crash site also reportedly encircled the car and prayed for the teens to be alright.

There were also lots of people waiting at the hospital to make sure the teens were okay, including the mayor, former mayor, Little, family and friends, according to Keene.