Published: June 24,2014
Two young sisters were killed in a freak accident on Monday when a
tree snapped and fell on a moving car in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
WPXI reports that 8-year-old Ryleigh Freiwald and 6-year-old Mikayla Freiwald of Johnstown were riding in the backseat with two younger sisters when the rotted tree snapped at its roots. The impact caused the car’s driver, 36-year-old Jason Hinebaugh, to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a telephone pole.
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Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller said the two girls died of blunt-force trauma to the head, the Associated Press reports.
When police arrived, Hinebaugh was unconscious behind the wheel. The girl's mother, 26-year-old Ashley Lichty, and sisters Ciara (5) and Lillie (3) Freiwald managed to escape the crushed vehicle. Hinebaugh and Lichty had been dating for about 18 months and Lichty is 8 months pregnant with the couple's child, according to WPXI.
After the accident, Lichty screamed for people nearby to help rescue her children from the twisted wreckage.
"I saw a lady get out of the passenger seat screaming, 'My babies, my babies,'” witness Sandy Seth told WeAreCentralPA.com. "We watched the emergency services cut the doors off and cut the roof off and get the driver out of the car.”
Hinebaugh and Lichty remain in intensive care at a local hospital. Ciara and Lille were treated and released on Tuesday, according to the family's gofundme.com site.
Police said that the tree was rotten, but didn’t know what caused it to fall. Neighbors told CBS Pittsburg that it had been extremely rainy lately.
"Rainfall in Johnstown has been higher than average," said weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow. "So far, since June 1, the town has received 4.67 inches of rain, which is 1.33 inches above normal. It's been a wet month."
Chief Louis Barclay of the Conemaugh Township Police told CBS Pittsburg that the accident was tragic and unexpected.
"In my 23 years here I have never had anything like this," Barclay told CBS Pittsburg. “To have two young children die in the same family it must be horrendous on the parents, I can't even imagine.”
A gofundme site has been set up to help the family. Find out how you can help HERE.
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WPXI reports that 8-year-old Ryleigh Freiwald and 6-year-old Mikayla Freiwald of Johnstown were riding in the backseat with two younger sisters when the rotted tree snapped at its roots. The impact caused the car’s driver, 36-year-old Jason Hinebaugh, to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a telephone pole.
8-year-old Ryleigh Freiwald and 6-year-old Mikayla Freiwald were on a
family outing when a tree crushed their car. (Photo: Facebook/Ashley
Lichty)
Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller said the two girls died of blunt-force trauma to the head, the Associated Press reports.
When police arrived, Hinebaugh was unconscious behind the wheel. The girl's mother, 26-year-old Ashley Lichty, and sisters Ciara (5) and Lillie (3) Freiwald managed to escape the crushed vehicle. Hinebaugh and Lichty had been dating for about 18 months and Lichty is 8 months pregnant with the couple's child, according to WPXI.
After the accident, Lichty screamed for people nearby to help rescue her children from the twisted wreckage.
"I saw a lady get out of the passenger seat screaming, 'My babies, my babies,'” witness Sandy Seth told WeAreCentralPA.com. "We watched the emergency services cut the doors off and cut the roof off and get the driver out of the car.”
Hinebaugh and Lichty remain in intensive care at a local hospital. Ciara and Lille were treated and released on Tuesday, according to the family's gofundme.com site.
Police said that the tree was rotten, but didn’t know what caused it to fall. Neighbors told CBS Pittsburg that it had been extremely rainy lately.
"Rainfall in Johnstown has been higher than average," said weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow. "So far, since June 1, the town has received 4.67 inches of rain, which is 1.33 inches above normal. It's been a wet month."
Chief Louis Barclay of the Conemaugh Township Police told CBS Pittsburg that the accident was tragic and unexpected.
"In my 23 years here I have never had anything like this," Barclay told CBS Pittsburg. “To have two young children die in the same family it must be horrendous on the parents, I can't even imagine.”
A gofundme site has been set up to help the family. Find out how you can help HERE.
MORE: Twin Twisters Hit Pilger, Nebraska
Pilger, Nebraska
Clayton Petersen, left), Harry Petersen,
center, and Jeffery Petersen take a break to eat while helping with the
cleanup effort in Pilger, Nebraska, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. (AP
Photo/The Norfolk Daily News, Darin Epperly, Pool)
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