ST. GEORGE —A multi-vehicle pileup on southbound Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nevada, left several occupants trapped, including a semi driver, in the mangled wreckage that closed down all southbound traffic for hours Sunday evening.
Shortly before 7 p.m. MDT, officers and emergency personnel responded to a crash on southbound I-15 near mile marker 17 in Mesquite involving three semitractor-trailers and five passenger vehicles carrying a total of 14 occupants, according to a statement released by Mesquite Fire and Rescue on Monday.
Fire crews arrived to find multiple occupants trapped in four vehicles, including a driver in one of the semis, and all occupants were extricated from the passenger vehicles, while an extensive extrication operation was underway to free the semi driver from the mangled cab of the truck.
One occupant was flown to a trauma center via Mercy Air Medical Transport, and four others were injured and transported to local area hospitals by ground ambulance. The seven remaining occupants declined to be transported to the hospital.
Mesquite Fire Captain Spencer Lewis told St. George News that responders arrived to find the cab of one of the semi’s cab crushed and both the truck and trailer came to rest between the two other semis following the crash. Additionally, several of the passenger vehicles were pushed off the shoulder near the median.
It appeared as though the semi struck one of the vehicles and pushed the other three or four vehicles off the roadway, Lewis said, before becoming sandwiched between the trailers of the other two semis.
The trailers on all three semis were severely damaged and had to be off-loaded before being towed from the roadway. The interstate was littered with vehicles and debris that was scattered along the roadway.
The southbound side of I-15 was closed to traffic for several hours so responders and emergency crews could tend to the injured and clear the wreckage, which took some time, Lewis said. Re-opening the highway required heavy wreckers for multiple semis, as well as tow trucks for the remaining vehicles.
By 3 a.m., a single lane was reopened for travel, and shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday, all southbound lanes were reopened.
St. George News reached out to the Nevada Highway Patrol for additional information but the agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This report is based on statements from police, emergency personnel or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
Photo gallery
Semitractor-trailer is heavily damaged multi-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., March 20, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Mesquite Fire and Rescue, St. George News The cab of one of the semis was crushed in a multi-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., March 20, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Mesquite Fire and Rescue, St. George News A pickup truck is heavily damaged in multi-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., March 20, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Mesquite Fire and Rescue, St. George News Passenger car is heavily damaged in multi-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., March 20, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Mesquite Fire and Rescue, St. George News A gray pickup is heavily damaged, along with a passenger car (shown at far right) in multi-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., March 20, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Mesquite Fire and Rescue, St. George News 
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