After being injured in the deadly pile-up in Fort Worth, Texas, a nurse who managed to extricate herself from the rubble still went to work.
• Read also: Five dead, more than 30 injured in giant pile-up in Texas
The pile-up of around 100 vehicles on Thursday on the I-35W freeway killed at least six people, authorities said. Thirty-six people were taken to hospital for treatment of injuries.
In an interview with ABC 13, Rebecca Benson said that she went to work as she normally does. When she left, she didn’t suspect a thing. If she had heard that the weather was going to get worse, she would never have left. But that all changed when she got to the bridge.
“There was black ice. My car skidded a bit, but nothing serious, so I adjusted, she said. I saw the cars in front of me. I tried to do everything not to slip. I was trying to figure out how I could stop. ”
“A little more and my foot was going through the floor of the car. That’s when I realized I couldn’t stop, she continues. There was a semi-trailer truck and a car trailer that formed a sort of triangle. I lined up the car in that direction and prayed that everything would go well on impact. ”
Now stuck in the pile-up, she could see in her rearview mirror the cars coming in and continuing to pile up.
“Knowing that I had survived the initial impact, but also that at any point after that, there was a chance that I could be run over, I think that was the scariest part,” she explains.
It was then that she saw someone walking on the vehicles in an attempt to save people. This is how she was able to cope.
Once she was safe, she called a co-worker who was near the crash site and went to work.
“I spoke to a police officer and asked if I could leave my car here and go to work with a colleague. I crossed the barrier and walked to his car, ”remembers Mr.me Benson.
Rebecca Benson and her co-worker were stuck in traffic for about two hours before they could finally make it to the hospital where they work. They were able to complete half a day of work, despite everything.
It was only after talking to her husband that she decided to see a doctor.
“I have neck pain, shoulder pain and my left elbow is crippled … normal pain in this kind of situation. But I am extremely lucky, ”she sums up.