A Glasgow man is dead and three people are injured after an traffic accident Thursday night in Warren County.

Darrell Burton, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene after a tractor-trailer overturned on top of the vehicle he was driving at about 8:22 p.m. at the 23-mile marker of Interstate 65. Tyler Huff, 16, and Kendra Morgan, 13, both of Edmonton, who were also in the vehicle, were flown to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville for treatment of their injuries, according to a Kentucky State Police report. Huff and Morgan were treated and released.

The fourth person in the vehicle, Cynthia Morgan, 32, of Edmonton, was taken to The Medical Center and was treated and released.

The three passengers in the vehicle are fortunate to be alive, said Trooper Todd Holder, spokesman for state police in Bowling Green.

“Typically, when a tractor-trailer falls on a vehicle, everyone inside the vehicle is killed,” he said. “Every trooper who came upon the scene thought that all the passengers were lost. It’s very seldom that one vehicle will be as on top of the other as during this accident,” he said.

The tractor-trailer driven by Phillip Foster, 43, of Memphis attempted to merge from the center lane into the right lane, according to the report. Foster did not see Burton’s vehicle in the right lane.

The impact of the collision caused Burton’s vehicle to rotate in front of the tractor trailer with the truck pushing the car up the road, according to the report. Both vehicles entered the median and the tractor-trailer overturned, landing on the car.

Three fire departments worked together to try to remove the tractor-trailer from the vehicle, according to the report.

Several cranes were used to lift the tractor-trailer and then move it safely away from the vehicle, Bowling Green Fire Department Firefighter Ben Story said.

“The trailer had to be moved gingerly because the people inside had survived,” Holder said.

“It was a total effort by everyone who was involved,” Story said.

There was lots of lifting, pulling and cutting during the more than three-hour rescue.

“We do all kinds of training on cutting on cars, but nothing you could do to prepare would train you for what happened last night,” Story said. “It was a very stressful situation.”

Tim Meyer of the Alvaton Volunteer Fire Department said that as firefighters attempted to free the four people trapped, circumstances made things difficult.

“No matter what we cut or pried, it just didn’t make any difference,” he said.

Both Story and Meyer said they had never been involved in a rescue effort like this before.

The Plano Volunteer Fire Department also assisted in the rescue.

The emergency medical responders also risked their own lives by climbing inside the vehicle to stabilize the three patients while attempts were being made to get the tractor-trailer off the vehicle, Holder said.

“Crawling into that car while a 34,000-pound vehicle is being lifted above it is pretty brave,” he said.

The teamwork between all the agencies was impressive, Holder said. There were also a lot of non-emergency responders who offered equipment or manpower to help.

Second accident

There was another accident this morning on I-65 in Warren County.

It blocked I-65 north and resulted in another person being transported by air ambulance. The accident also involved a commercial vehicle and was at the 17-mile marker, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.