here's the article to save you from registering at their site to read it:
How tragic...
------------------------------------------------------------------
Linda Stewart/For the Times Record News
Traffic accident claims lives of Rita evacuees
By Linda Stewart/For the Times Record News
September 24, 2005
Rescue workers from Vernon Fire/EMS and Electra Volunteer Fire/EMS prepare to transport the driver of a 2003 GMC pickup to an Electra Hospital for treatment.
VERNON (Special) - A two-vehicle accident Friday morning about 17 miles east of here on U.S. 287 claimed the lives of two people presumed to be fleeing Hurricane Rita, according to officials at the scene. The accident occurred at about 10:25 a.m.
Lane McLenna, 41, of Seabrook, Texas, was driving of a 2003 GMC pickup and apparently failed to see a slowing 18-wheeler and slammed into the rear of the trailer. The pickup was pulling an empty enclosed racing-car trailer. The pickup was crushed between the trailers. Authorities theorized that the driver might have fallen asleep.
The 1998 Freightliner driven by Robin Mullens, 45, of Colorado Springs, Colo., had slowed to turn into a 7-Eleven truck stop when the accident occurred.
Rescue workers from both Vernon Fire/Emergency Management Systems and Electra Volunteer Fire/EMS used the Jaws of Life to free both Lane McLenna and his 31-year-old wife, Annie McLenna. Vernon Fire Chief Charles Stewart said the pair was trapped in the vehicle about 47 minutes before being freed from the wreckage.
Annie McLenna was pronounced dead on arrival at Electra Memorial Hospital, and her husband died about an hour later before an Air Evac Lifeteam could transfer him to another facility for treatment.
Northbound traffic was blocked on the highway for almost two hours as the victims were freed and the wreckage cleared. Traffic was routed off the highway onto a dirt county road, then onto Texas 240 and then back onto the main highway at Harrold.
Bill Mullens of Colorado Springs, a passenger in the Freightliner, was uninjured the accident.
Mullens' trailer was loaded with close to 50 head of cattle. Authorities said the cattle were not injured in the accident.
