(WRDW) – More than 20 years after a deadly bus crash in Taliaferro County, survivors were able to meet the first responders who jumped into action to save their lives. The crash happened on Interstate 20 in 1997 involving the cheerleading team from the University of West Georgia.
Every passenger was ejected on the bus, killing three people and injuring 13 others in the crash. It was an emotional time for the survivors of that crash, but they say they wanted a chance to show all first responders their gratitude.
It’s a day Chris Autrey, Kim Test and Hilary Helton will never forget: August 10, 1997. A day when the van carrying their group of West Georgia College cheerleaders crashed on I-20.
“We were crossing over Lake Oconee and a couple minutes later, that’s when the accident happened. It was a scene that you see in movies from what I remember,” Autrey says. “It’s a scene that I don’t want to see again.”
The day saw Wilkes, Taliaferro, Warren, and McDuffie County emergency officials all respond to the call. While their lives changed that day forever, several survivors are now saying thanks to the first responders who helped save them.
Autrey says meeting them more than twenty years later is bittersweet.
“The last time I had even heard their names or anything was in the back of the ambulance and I actually got to meet the paramedic who rode in the back of the ambulance with me,” Autrey says. “After an event like that, not a lot of people get to say thanks to the people who saved your life.”
First responders like Major Connie Waldhour with Gold Cross EMS are thankful for the recognition. She’s seen her rough days, most recently during Masters Week when a tour bus crashed on I-20 in Columbia County.
“It was bad,” Major Waldhour says. “We had six patients that were still inside the bus and we weren’t able to initially able to get contact to them to see how bad they were. We had to wait on fire to get us access inside the bus so we could see just how bad our patients were.”
Seeing a wreck like this and helping those in need can take a toll, but she says it’s worth it.
“It’s an adrenaline rush that you just can’t describe,” Major Waldhour says. “You also get a little uneasy because you don’t know exactly what you’re facing. But it’s a tremendous feeling to know that you were involved and you helped save somebody.”
