Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Fort Worth: Nurse crawled out of deadly 1.5-mile Texas pile-up and went to work

Rebecca Benson says aftermath of accident was ‘like a zombie movie’

James Crump
Friday 12 February 2021 15:37 GMT
Comments
Shocking footage shows huge vehicle pileup in Texas
Leer en Español

A nurse involved in the deadly 100 vehicle pile up in Fort Worth, Texas, crawled out of the wreckage and went straight to work.

At least six people have been confirmed dead and 36 others have been transported to local hospitals after being involved in the pile up that stretched 1.5 miles on Thursday morning.

Rebecca Benson, a nurse at a north Texas hospital, was travelling to work at around 6:30am when her car began to slide on the icy roads of Interstate 35.

“I’m trying to not spin out and to figure out if I can stop. I mean, my foot was as close to going through the floorboard as it possibly could be,” Ms Benson told ABC’s World News Tonight.

She quickly realised that there was “no stopping”, and her car crashed into the back of a Coca-Cola truck, before several other cars piled into her vehicle and the ones behind her.

Ms Benson revealed that she was trying to stay calm during the deadly incident on Thursday, but said she could not stop herself shaking every time another vehicle got involved in the pile up.

"I looked in my rearview mirror and can see all of these cars heading towards me. So I think that was the scariest part, knowing that I survived this part but now the chances of me getting completely smashed by all the cars and semis behind me," she told ABC.

She described the scene as like a “zombie movie”, as cars continued to crash behind her on the interstate.

Ms Benson was later helped out of her car, which was pinned between other vehicles, by another motorist.

The nurse told ABC that once she was out of her car, she called one of her colleagues, who gave her a lift to the hospital where she works.

She confirmed that she eventually got herself checked out by doctors later in the day after her husband urged her too.

Ms Benson said that she was left with a left elbow “bruised to the high-heavens” and pain in her shoulder and neck, adding: “I am unbelievably blessed.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in