Tractor-trailer driver airlifted after I-70 crash

Friday, November 13, 2015

PUTNAMVILLE -- A 26-year-old Texas semi driver was airlifted Friday afternoon to an Indianapolis hospital following a one-vehicle accident in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70, in southwest Putnam County.

State Police and Putnam County emergency agencies responded to the commercial vehicle crash near the 32-mile marker, approximately five miles west of Putnamville, at about 2:30 p.m.

Preliminary investigation by Indiana State Police officers at Putnamville has revealed that a blue 2012 Kenworth tractor, driven by Jose Covarrubias of San Antonio, was pulling a flatbed trailer loaded with sheets of steel near the 32-mile marker.

A tractor-trailer fully loaded with sheet metal left the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 at County Road 600 West Friday afternoon, crashing down onto the county road that runs under the interstate. (Photo courtesy of Cloverdale Police Department)

For an unknown reason, the tractor-trailer veered into the median and went over an embankment, crashing down onto Putnam County Road 600 West which runs beneath the divided sections of the interstate at that point just east of the Putnam-Clay county line.

Once off the interstate, the semi then traveled across CR 600W, before striking an earthen embankment on the east side of the county road.

Covarrubias, who was trapped in the wreckage for nearly 50 minutes, was extricated from the tractor by members of the Reelsville Fire/Rescue.

Treated and stabilized at the scene by paramedics from Putnam County Operation Life, Covarrubias was later airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis by IU Health air ambulance for treatment of what were diagnosed at the scene as serious head and internal injuries.

The semi is owned by Boyd Brothers Transportation of Cincinnati. No damage estimate was immediately available.

The accident was investigated by ISP Trooper Brandon Mullen.

Assisting were several troopers from the Putnamville Post and the ISP Commercial Vehicle Section, the Cloverdale Police Department, Reelsville Fire/Rescue, Operation Life and Curtis Wrecker Service.

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