Bereket Teweldemedhin, Angesom Abadi Killed in Truck Accident near Darien, GA
Darien, GA — December 9, 2022, Bereket Teweldemedhin and Angesom Abadi died in a crash between tractor-trailers on Interstate 95 near Darien.
Authorities say the incident happened around 4:35 p.m. on I-95 near the McIntosh/Glynn County line. Preliminary investigation suggests Teweldemedhin and Abadi were in a northbound Peterbilt 18-wheeler when witnesses say a pickup truck might have forced the big rig to swerve. It crashed through the median cable barrier and entered the southbound lanes where it collided with a Volvo tractor-trailer. After the impact both trucks caught fire.
Teweldemedhin, 42, and Abadi, 36, both died in the accident. The Volvo driver, 48-year-old Angel Valcarel, reportedly received minor injuries and escaped the truck before it caught fire.
The investigation is ongoing. No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Bereket Teweldemedhin, Angesom Abadi Accident near Darien
Preliminary reports say the victims' truck might have been forced off-course by another vehicle. It's not clear exactly how or whether the pickup stayed at the scene, but if another driver was the catalyst of this terrible incident I hope they owned up to their mistake.
Some may think there's little else to say other than offering condolences to the victims' loved ones, but what people don't always realize is that the cause of a crash and the cause of someone's injuries aren't always the same. For instance, there's also the question of whether the victims' big rig should really have caught fire in the collision with the other truck.
People don't always realize that the exposure of a truck's "saddle" gas tanks mean they often rupture during a wreck and turn an already-serious situation into a fatal one. In many cases that could have been avoided with a few changes to big rigs' design and manufacture, yet the industry as a whole is very resistant to making those improvements.
Because this is a legal blog people sometimes think I'm just looking for "bad guys" to blame, but that's not the point. Two people died in this accident, and I think most would agree it's only right to find out exactly how and why that happened--and whether those circumstances could have been avoided or prevented. If so, the people who failed to prevent it shouldn't escape consequences for their negligence.
