Nursing Students Killed In Crash- Georgia Southern University is mourning over the five nursing students killed in crash in the same day of Wednesday morning. The next day, a touching memorial vigil was offered for the five nursing students killed in crash.
It was a regular day except that it was the college juniors last day in their clinic training at St. Joseph's Hospital in Savannah. However, the five nursing students didn't make it after a Total Transportation truck plowed into the traffic in Interstate 16 that also left three others injured and wrecking seven other vehicles.
The five nursing students killed in crash were identified as Abbie Deloach, Morgan Bass, Caitlyn Baggett, Emily Clark, and Catherine (McKay) Pittman who were commuting on Wednesday morning to report for their last day in their training.
Two other nursing students identified as Brittney McDaniel and Megan Richards were injured but survived the tragic incident.
According to Daily Mail report, the driver of a tractor-trailer of Total Transportation truck LLC, John Wayne Johnston, 55 was driving in Interstate 16 when he failed to slow down and hit the traffic that caused the fatal car chain collision.
It hit an SUV, and plowed Eastbound into the traffic of cars where five nursing students killed in crash were riding. The fatal car chain reaction took place about 20 miles west of Savannah at around 6am in Bryan County.
The five nursing students killed in crash were riding on two of the passenger vehicles, a Toyota Corolla and a Ford Escape. Sgt. Chris Nease, one of the investigators said that one of the cars was blazed on fire.
It will also take several months to determine who will be responsible for the tragic accident and whether the nursing students killed in crash died on impact, the CNN reported.
One witness who passed by said that he wanted to help, but he couldn't do anything more right at the moment but to use a fire extinguisher when he saw the car burning where some of the nursing students killed in crash were found.
"Right about the time I got here, the car was just about catching on fire," Cayne Monroe, the witness on the fatal accident said. "The car just burned up really quickly. And I run up there, but there was nothing anyone could do. I've never witnessed something like that in my life. It was pretty tragic."
Monroe also said that he didn't speak with the driver of the tractor-trailer for long time. Johnston, the driver of Total Transportation truck LLC just told him that he wished he also died after learning that nursing students killed in crash.
After the news broke that five nursing students killed in crash, Georgia Southern University President Brooks Keel released a statement at their official website that reads:
"Every one of our students contributes in no small measure, to the Eagle Nation. The loss of any student, especially in a tragic way, is particularly painful. Losing five students is almost incomprehensible.Our hearts go out to the families, friends and classmates of these students."
"The University flag will fly at half-staff Thursday in their memory. Memorial arrangements are pending."
Investigators revealed that investigation for the case of nursing students killed in crash will not be easy. Sgt. Nease said that his team will be dealing with the whole case for months before they arrive in a full report.
Meanwhile, Johnson, the driver involved in the nursing students killed in crash is an employee of a large trucking company based in Mississippi named as Total Transportation that employs 900 drivers and owns roughly 750 vehicles.
Based on US Department of Transportation safety records, Total Transportation has so many violations in the last two years including 600 maintenance and 266 citations driving violations.
On Thursday night, the Georgia Southern campus lighted candles and offered prayers for the five nursing students killed in crash.
