Colleton County Fire and Rescue crews in South Carolina spent more than three hours freeing an injured racehorse from an overturned trailer on Interstate 95 on Saturday, September 5, 2026.
Responders were called to the 55 mile marker at roughly 1:37 p.m. A northbound tractor-trailer hauling a horse trailer is believed to have suffered a front right tire blowout. The truck swerved into the median, struck the guardrail beneath the Beach Road overpass and destroyed about 100 feet of it, then rolled onto its passenger side and slid into the southbound lanes, where it struck the cab of a second southbound semi. All southbound lanes were blocked.
The horse suffered multiple injuries that were described as not life threatening, and one of her legs was caught in a side window of the trailer. Three firefighters and paramedics on scene had prior horse handling experience and worked to calm the animal through an open rear window. Temperatures topped 95 degrees at midday, so crews climbed ladders to the trailer roof and used positive pressure ventilation fans to push cooler air inside while giving the horse water.
Veterinarians Lori Campbell and Dr. Brittany Carney of Charleston Equine Clinic sedated the animal for extrication. Crews cut the window guard with Holmatro Pentheon rescue tools, then used a K-12 saw to remove part of the rear wall of the trailer. The horse walked out unaided and was moved by a Colleton County Animal Services transport trailer to the clinic.
Both truck drivers escaped injury. The South Carolina Department of Transportation routed traffic off at Exit 57 through Walterboro, and southbound lanes reopened three and a half hours later. The South Carolina Highway Patrol and the South Carolina Department of Public Safety Police are investigating.
Source: TheTrucker.com - https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/the-nation/south-carolina-firefighters-rescue-racehorse-after-semi-truck-crash-on-i-95