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A car and two small SUVs were turning onto U.S. 278 from Buck Island Road at 8:08 a.m., said Battalion Chief Todd Harvey of the Bluffton Township Fire District.
It's unclear whether the drivers were turning east or west onto U.S. 278, but when they were in the intersection, a dump truck driver ran the light at Buck Island Road, police said.
The dump truck, which was carrying hot asphalt, turned over on its side, crushing part of a Nissan Murano driven by Luciana Stegeman, 32, of Bluffton. Stegeman was taken to the Savannah hospital, Lt. Bryan Norberg of the Bluffton Police Department said.
The driver of a silver Mazda, Mary Hady, 33, of greater Bluffton, also was taken to the Savannah hospital, Norberg said.
Conditions of the two women were not available Tuesday night. One of the occupants of the cars was reported by witnesses to be a pregnant woman.
The driver of a fourth vehicle, a Ford SUV, and the dump truck driver were not injured. The dump truck was registered out of state, Norberg said.
The dump truck driver, Steven Exum, 42, of Ridgeland, was cited for driving too fast for conditions and disregarding a stop light, he said.
Emergency workers sprayed a chemical solution on the dump truck, apparently to prevent a fire. The dump truck was leaking fuel and the state Department of Health & Environmental Control was on site.
Both the fuel spill and the hot asphalt were contained by emergency responders, Harvey said.
Other responding agencies included the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, state Highway Patrol and county traffic management trucks, said Chris Henkel, operations supervisor for the Beaufort County Traffic Management Center.
After the wreck, traffic backed up, but the site was cleared by noon, Harvey said.
Two other minor accidents also slowed traffic to the island Tuesday morning. A two-car accident at the Moss Creek light at 8:40 a.m. partially blocked the right lane. That accident was cleared by 9:20 a.m., Henkel said.
There was also a minor, multiple-car accident at the Rose Hill Plantation light at 8:50 a.m. in the traffic backup caused by the earlier Buck Island Road accident, Henkel said.
