FIVE INJURED IN I-55 CRASH: INTERSTATE TRAFFIC HALTED BOTH WAYS AFTER SCOTT CITY CRASH

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- A swarm of rescue workers stopped traffic on Interstate 55 in both directions Thursday while fighting to pull a critically injured Benton, Mo., woman from the steering column of a mangled Chevy Blazer. Connie Washburn, who was the driver, and four others went to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau in the two-vehicle accident.

The Missouri Highway Patrol reported the Blazer was heading south at 1:52 p.m., attempted to pull into the interstate median from the far right lane, and was struck on the driver's side by a blue Chevrolet van.

Washburn and Randy Gregg of Scott City, 16, another occupant of the Blazer, were air-lifted to the hospital. Travis Harper of Benton, 23, and Ashley Fodge of Sikeston, 17, also occupants of the Blazer, and Theodore Specht of Semmes, Ala., 79, an occupant of the van, went to the hospital by ambulance.

The Life Beat helicopter touched down in the southbound lane of the interstate south of Scott City and just north of mile marker 89.

Cape Girardeau firefighter Dennis Ainsworth said freeing Washburn was painstaking work.

"Our team job was to free up her lower extremities," he said. "With the saw, you want to make as little movement to the car as possible. We had to take the windshield out and pull the top back."

The hospital could not release patient condition information late Thursday because the patients' families had not been notified.

The Highway Patrol declined to comment if any of the parties involved were issued citations.