Foreign nationals killed in fiery Island Park crash, witness recounts the tragedy

By Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com

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    ISLAND PARK, Idaho (eastidahonews.com) — At least seven people, including six foreign nationals, were killed in a fiery crash Thursday night on U.S. Highway 20 in Island Park.

Emergency crews were called to the scene near Henrys Lake around 7:15 p.m. for a report of a collision involving a Dodge Ram pickup truck and a Mercedes passenger van carrying 14 tourists, according to an Idaho State Police news release. Both vehicles caught fire after the crash.

Idaho State Police Lt. Marvin Crane says the tour van was transporting foreign nationals. Six of them died as a result of the crash, as well as the driver of the truck.

The Fremont County Coroner’s office will release the names of the deceased after their family members have been notified.

US-20 was closed for nearly seven hours while emergency responders and the Idaho Transportation Department worked to manage the scene and clear the roadway. The highway is open as of Friday morning.

Fremont County Sheriff Bart Quayle said many survivors were taken to local hospitals, although not all their conditions are known.

“In terms of an automobile accident, this is an extremely unusual and horrific one,” says Quayle.

According to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center spokesperson Coleen Neimann, two patients were transported to the Idaho Falls hospital via air ambulance. Their conditions are unknown.

Madison Memorial Hospital spokesperson Douglas McBride says five people were transported by ambulance to the Rexburg hospital. Three were treated and released, and two remain admitted in stable condition.

Witness account Roger Merrill, a witness to the crash, says he was in traffic a few cars behind, only a few minutes from his house, when the flow of cars stopped moving.

“I got there, I’m guessing within five minutes of the accident happening,” says Merrill. “It was obvious it was horrific.”

Merrill says he noticed groups of people getting out of their cars with blankets and other helpful items, rushing to the scene to help the victims.

“I could see up ahead that there were a lot of people helping,” says Merrill. “I didn’t have blankets or anything with me, so I held back, but you know, it appeared that there were people on scene assisting.”

Merrill says a Fremont County Sheriff’s deputy arrived 5 to 10 minutes after the crash and began helping. At this point, the fire hadn’t started yet.

“The fire didn’t begin immediately,” says Merrill. “It was probably at least ten minutes after I arrived before the fire erupted.”

According to Merrill, the deputy used a fire extinguisher to tame the flames once they began, but the fire quickly spread from the truck to the tourist van.

“At first, I thought it appeared that maybe there was just some steam coming from the vehicles that had crashed, but then after a few minutes, I could see flames coming out,” says Merrill.

Merrill says a medical helicopter was next to arrive on the scene before several other law enforcement entities arrived.

Merrill says the foreign nationals appeared to be of Asian descent. A small group of them were able to get out of the van and walk away on their own.

“A lot of the cars that were stopped as well were also (Asian) tourists,” says Merrill. “So they went up to assist those that had come out of the bus and were helping interpret.”

One woman was particularly injured, says Merrill, and witnesses were trying to keep her calm and warm until help arrived.

“(She) looked like she was in shock,” says Merrill.

Merrill spends much of the year in Island Park as the owner of the Playmill Theater, and says he’s never seen a crash quite like this one.

“We have a lot of employees who travel that road and we tell them every year, be careful because there’s accidents that close the highways every year,” says Merrill. “I’ve never seen anything this bad.”

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