A late-night car crash south of Petersburg on Friday landed two people in the local hospital with moderate injuries.
The crash happened about nine miles from town on Mitkof Highway near what’s known as the “S-curve” in the road, just south of Twin Creek. A four-door truck traveling northbound did not clear the curve and went off the roadway, ending up in the forest brush downhill.
Emergency dispatch got a text message around 9:30 p.m. that an accident had occurred within a few miles of that area, without an exact location. Logan Stolpe, public information officer for the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, said emergency responders and police found two people, still conscious, inside the damaged vehicle around 10:00 p.m.
“They were off the roadway,” Stolpe said. “In searching for them … they barely saw their cab light, kind of, off the road, is how they found them.”
He said the response included a fire truck, the department’s squad car, two ambulances, a couple of police officers, and about 15 emergency responders. Volunteer firefighters had to make space in the surrounding forest and cut open the vehicle to extract the two people from the damaged truck.
“They had to cut a bunch of brush around the truck for kind of workspace,” Stolpe said. “They ended up having to take the two rear doors off and kind of lay the seats back to get the people out of the truck.”
Stolpe said both occupants were taken to the hospital in moderate condition and were released the following morning. The truck sustained substantial damage and was towed from the crash site on Saturday.
Stolpe encourages drivers to ensure their vehicles are in good working order as daylight hours decrease.
The cause of the crash was still under investigation on Monday, according to the Petersburg Police Department.
