Published: April 08, 2009 08:58 am      

Route 36 accident

Car crashes head-on into coal truck

VALE SUMMIT — The Allegany County Bureau of Police is investigating an accident on state Route 36 north of the Mountainview Landfill after a car apparently crossed the center line and crashed head-on into a coal truck.

At approximately 4 p.m., an officer with the Allegany County Bureau of Police, on routine patrol in the area, arrived moments before the crash that left the driver of a 1988 4-door Chrysler entrapped within the vehicle, according to Bureau of Police Chief J. Robert Dick.

Carol Lee Welch, 48, of Buskirk Hollow Road in Frostburg was apparently traveling northbound toward Midland when her vehicle crossed the center line for unknown reasons and crashed into the coal truck.

Welch was transported to Cumberland Memorial Hospital by Frostburg Area Ambulance Service. Information concerning the condition of Welch was not available Tuesday evening.

The driver of the coal truck, Nathaniel Edward Passman, 48, of Cumberland, was not injured in the accident. The coal truck Passman was operating is owned by Western Maryland Transport Inc. of Barton and was empty at the time of the crash.

Route 36 was closed for approximately an hour and a half and both vehicles were towed from the scene. Traffic assistance was provided by Maryland State Police and the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office.

Fire companies from Frostburg, Clarysville and Midland responded along with two units from Frostburg Area Ambulance Service, according to the Allegany County 911 Center.

The crash is continuing to be investigated by the Bureau of Police.