The woman whose SUV brought an out-of-control transport truck to a stop on the Coquihalla Highway is praising bystanders who rushed to help commuters involved in the pileup.
On Friday afternoon, a semi barrelled down a hill on Highway 5 near Box Canyon, striking 13 vehicles in the southbound lanes before coming to a stop. The truck finally stopped rolling after colliding with an SUV and wedging the smaller vehicle into the highway's concrete barrier.
Inside the white Chevrolet, squished between the truck and the barrier, were Anthea Stavrou-Johnson and her two young daughters, Imogen and Sadie.
Stavrou-Johnson said she'd heard a "Pop! Bang! Smash!" as she drove along, and looked in her rear-view mirror to see what was causing the noise. She was shocked to see a semi barrelling down the hill, "just popping off car after car after car."
She braced for impact and told her girls to hang on, then the large truck smashed into the side of her SUV, dragging the vehicle roughly the length of a city block.
She said she thought to herself, "How is this going to end?"
It ended with her SUV finally bringing the semi to a stop, leaving the family trapped inside the vehicle.
Bystanders helped her and her daughters get out of the damaged SUV through the driver's side window.
"We're alive, and I can't quite believe that. It's amazing," Stavrou-Johnson said.
Seven people were hospitalized as a result of the crash, but Stavrou-Johnson and her family were not seriously injured. Her SUV was totalled.
It is not yet known what caused the crash just outside of Hope that closed the southbound lanes for nearly eight hours on Friday, but witnesses said it appeared that the driver had lost the use of their brakes.
The driver is under investigation, but the owner of the massive vehicle told CTV News that he believes the fault lies with the company resurfacing that section of highway.
"Whatever happened, whether he was at fault or wasn't at fault, he's still a human being and he still feels terrible," Stavrou-Johnson said.
She said she's grateful for the help of good Samaritans who rushed to help her family and other victims in the moments immediately after the accident — including two Vancouver residents who drove her and her daughters home.
"These two lovely women, they lived in our neighborhood and they drove us home. Everybody just made sure that everybody was safe."
The case is in the hands of local RCMP, who say it could take months before the cause is determined.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Sarah MacDonald
