High school student clings to life after washout of major highway

By Brendan Kirby

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    LUCEDALE, Mississippi (WALA) — A George County High School student is fighting for her life after major highway collapsed Monday, dragging seven cars into a deep crater.

Law enforcement authorities said the accident on Mississippi 26 claimed the lives of two men and injured 10 other people.

Layla Jemison, a senior at the high school, was one of the unlucky to be there when the road crumbled. Tuesday evening, a couple hundred fellow students and area residents gathered in the school parking lot to pray for her recovery.

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s been a rough day,” family friend Melanie Riley told those gathered. “It’s been an emotional day.”

Riley and school principal Sid Taylor said Layla made it through a first round of surgeries on Tuesday at the University of South Alabama Health System’s University Hospital in Mobile. Riley said Layla’s parents appreciate the outpouring of support they have received.

“They’re thankful for every call, for every text, for every share on social media,” she said. “But the most thing that they’re thankful for are prayers. And they have felt them all day.”

None of the motorists traveling on Mississippi 26 in dark and rainy conditions had any idea what was about to happen. Law enforcement officials said the road had been pounded by Hurricane Ida and its aftermath, and simply fell apart, sending vehicles into a giant, muddy chasm.

Nearby resident Kyle Green noted that the road is an important thoroughfare for the rural county and added that the disaster could have been even worse.

“If it had been an hour, two hours earlier, you know, there’s 18-wheelers up and down this road,” he told FOX10 News.

Green said he and his wife were watching a movie at about 10 p.m. Monday night when they heard a loud boom.

“It was already bad weather. So we were thinking that it was just thunder, you know, and we went and laid down in our bed,” he said. “We heard it again, the crash.”

Green said he looked outside and saw a car moving across the road but never saw it emerge on the other side of the nearby church. That’s when he knew something was wrong. He said he drove his truck over to see what was going on and saw the horror for himself.

“As I pulled up further, then I could see it,” he said. “And it was quite a mess.”

The accident hits home, Green said, and not just because it was physically close to his actual home. He said his wife works as a teacher with the wife of one of the men who died.

On Tuesday, work crews erected barriers blocking traffic, and curious folks got a first-hand look in the daylight.

George County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Mathis was there Monday night, having responded from the other side of the county. He was one of more than 100 first responders.

“My sergeant and the other deputy that I work with was down in the hole, helping people out of their vehicles and strapping them on backboards,” he said.

Mathis said he helped get the victims on to ambulances within to take them to area hospitals.

Taylor, the high school principal, said the turnout at Tuesday’s prayer vigil was a testament to a community that rallies when tragedy strikes. He recalled seeing news of the accident on TV.

“There was no more sleeping for me,” he said.

Taylor said it is encouraging that Layla had a successful round of surgeries. But he added that she remains in critical condition.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he told the crowd. “She’s fighting for her life.”

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