TURBOTVILLE - Seven people, including five children, were injured this afternoon when a car and a van collided head-on just south of here on Route 44, according to state police.
When the two vehicles collided about 12:45 p.m. , the car's engine compartment caught fire, according to David Brown, assistant fire chief of the Warrior Run Area Volunteer Fire Co.
Brown and police credit an Amish farmer, Hosea D. Hostetler, and neighbor Ray Hoover with putting out the fire by pouring buckets and buckets of water on the flames.
Article Video
Seven hurt in crash near Turbotville
The crash was in front of Hostetler's home. His wife, Ada, filled the buckets of water from the house while her husband and Hoover ran back and forth to the car until the fire was out. Brown said the car's driver, a woman, was trapped in the wreckage and likely would have burned had it not been for neighbors coming to her rescue.
The fire was already extinguished when firefighters arrived on the scene, Brown said.
Two medical helicopters landed in nearby fields and were used to fly the car's driver and one of two children riding in the vehicle to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Brown said. The second child was taken by ambulance to Geisinger as was the driver of the van and three children riding in that vehicle, Brown said.
A section of the the two-lane road remained closed until police completed their on-scene investigation.
