Yahoo News 2-Year-Old Sole Survivor After 9 Die in Wisconsin Highway Crash: ‘Tearing This Community Apart’
Micah Schrock was pulled from the wreckage by a former marine who witnessed the incident, according to a report
Nine people have died after a crash on a Wisconsin highway involving a van carrying several members of an Amish community in Virginia
The sole survivor has been identified as 2-year-old Micah Schrock, according to a report
More than 1,000 people are expected to visit the Amish community in Burke’s Garden to mourn the victims, officials said
A 2-year-old boy is the lone survivor of a crash in Wisconsin that killed nine people, including members of an Amish community in Virginia.
Preliminary reports say a tractor-trailer was traveling eastbound on State Highway 95 on Friday when it entered an intersection and struck a van traveling northbound on County Highway J, according to Chief Deputy James Hirsch of the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
The semi, which was hauling milk, swerved to avoid the van that had turned into its path at the intersection, witness Nathaniel Jahn, a former marine, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The driver of the semi and eight of the nine people inside the van were pronounced dead at the scene, Hirsch said in an update.
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Family friend Allen Gross identified the surviving victim as 2-year-old Micah Schrock, according to ABC affiliate WISN-TV.
The toddler was thrown from the van when the crash occurred, Jahn told the Sentinel. The Neillsville man pulled the boy from the wreckage but was unable to save the woman next to the child.
“I think God put me there for a reason,” explained Jahn, who laid a cross at the crash site on Sunday.
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He was expected to be released from the hospital to family members, per the paper.
Seven of those in the van were members of an Amish community in Virginia, the Sentinel reported. They were in Wisconsin to visit family at the time.
The victims killed in the van have been identified as James McCoy, the 45-year-old driver of the van, Linda Byler, 44, Lydia Byler, 24, Orlah Schrock, 24, Ellen Schrock, 23, Delilah Schrock, 21, Suzanna Hertzler, 18, and Ellen and Orlah's 6-month-old daughter Judy Rose Schrock, according to NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV.
Lavada Stout, McCoy’s ex-wife, told WTMJ-TV that her ex-husband “was fun to be around” and “somebody I could confide in.” She also said he was someone she could trust her life with, even though they had previously divorced.
“I still had confidence in him, we’d still go places and stuff like that, I mean, he was my best friend,” Stout explained.
More than 1,000 people are expected to visit the Amish community in Burke’s Garden to mourn those lost in the collision, Thompson Valley Fire and Rescue said.
Jodi White, a resident of Burke’s Garden, said about half of the 300-person community “are probably Amish,” according to WTMJ-TV. “They’re a big part of our community and they’re our friends and our neighbors,” she added.
“I know it’s tearing this community apart," Marcie Parker, who went by the crash site to pay her respects, told the Sentinel.
The crash scene was cleared by 8:30 p.m. local time, per the Chief Deputy. An investigation into the collision is ongoing. The identity of the semi-driver has not been released.
As of Monday afternoon, nearly $13,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe campaign for the victims’ families.
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