LAFAYETTE, TN – A van carrying nine passengers collided head-on with a semi truck Tuesday afternoon, September, 29, at about 3:30 p.m in the city of Lafayette, TN resulting in 2 deaths. Lafayette is in Macon County, Tennessee in the northern part of the state about 58 miles northeast of Nashville.
The accident occurred as the van was traveling northbound on Scottsville Road (Highway 10) while making a left turn onto Cold Springs Road. That is when the van collided with a semi truck coming in the opposite direction.
The van crossed the center line to turn left off Highway 10 and drove right into the path of a semi coming toward it. The semi truck driver, Jackie Gann, 60 years old from Lafayette, swerved to try to miss the van, but was unable to avoid the accident.
Two people in the van, the driver and a passenger, were killed. Five other people in the van were flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, all in serious condition.
Two other passengers in the van were taken to Macon County General Hospital in Lafayette. The truck driver was taken to a hospital, treated and released.
Nine of the people in the van were migrant workers who were returning home from cutting tobacco in the Willette area of eastern Macon County, according to officials.
Police said they have had a difficult time notifying family members because few of the victims speak English. The victims’ names have not been released.
WSNV reports that this stretch of highway is well know for danger. Five of the men who were injured in the crash are still at Vanderbuilt Hospital in serious condition. The two men who were sent to Macon General Hospital have been released.
People interviewed were shocked about the accident but not where the crash happened.
“This place is a bad place” says Patricia Carter, who says she is used to calling 911.
There have been three serious wrecks outside her Lafayette home, but what she heard today was like unlike any crash she heard before.
“It sounded like somebody ran into my house, that’s how loud it was”, she told the WSNV reporter.
The accident remains under investigation.
Published by Atlanta truck accident lawyer Fried Goldberg LLC, expert nationwide truck accident attorneys specializing in commercial truck injury law across the United States. For more information about Tennessee trucking laws, truck injury causes and victims rights, talk to an expert truck attorney for a free initial consultation at 1.877.591.1801.