13 vehicles involved in fatal I-95 pileup in Colleton County, troopers confirm
Troopers confirmed that 13 total vehicles were involved in Tuesday afternoon’s deadly pileup on I-95 in Colleton County — including six that were semi-trucks or other commercial vehicles.
Two people were killed and around 10 were hospitalized in the large-scale crash around 4:45 p.m. that shuttered the southbound lanes of I-95 for nearly 12 hours. Drivers were diverted through Yemassee as first responders made rescues within the wreckage and towed totaled vehicles from the scene. The southbound interstate was reopened around 3 a.m. the next morning.
Shortly before the pileup, troopers reported a separate three-vehicle collision, including one commercial vehicle, in the same area of southbound I-95. That crash sent one person to the hospital, according to the SCHP.
Firefighters and paramedics treated 26 people on the scene of the pileup. Four people, including the two deceased victims, were trapped in their vehicles and were removed by first responders using extrication tools, according to a release from Colleton County Fire-Rescue.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Colleton County Coroner’s Office had not yet identified the two victims of the collision.
Many locals and commuters attributed the pileup to the strong, erratic rain and thunderstorms that swept through the Lowcountry on Tuesday. SCHP investigators had not yet commented on what might have caused the crash.
Drivers and passengers on the interstate reported “near-zero visibility” at the time of the incident, according to Colleton County firefighters.
Photos of the wreckage shared by authorities showed cars, trucks and semi-trucks in mangled piles as high as 15 feet above the interstate.
Emergency crews removed two people from a totaled pickup truck 10 feet in the air that had crashed through the rear of a semi-trailer, CCFR said. They also extricated a truck driver who was trapped in his “completely demolished” cabin. Another victim required “advanced airway procedures” to save his life at a Charleston-area trauma center after he was saved from a “small passenger car” under a pile of other vehicles, firefighters said.
One semi-truck in the crash had been hauling large sheets of plate glass that were thrown into the roadway upon impact. Emergency crews had to work around the layers of shattered glass that covered some areas of the crash site.
Authorities set up a triage area to attend to the dozens of people injured in the accident and transport some patients to local hospitals. Two people were taken to the respective trauma centers at Charleston’s Medical University of South Carolina and Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, while nine were taken to Colleton Medical Center and Beaufort Memorial Hospital, according to the CCFR release.
No medical helicopters could fly in the area due to the poor weather conditions, firefighters said.
Tuesday afternoon’s back-to-back crashes are under investigation by SCHP, South Carolina’s State Transport Police and the S.C. Department of Public Safety’s Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team, which conducts “in-depth investigations” and collision reconstruction for select traffic accidents around the state.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM.
