Four hospitalized in accident involving tractor-trailer and ambulance Tuesday afternoon

On Tuesday afternoon at approximately 4:57 p.m., Virginia State Police responded to a two-vehicle crash on Route 13 southbound, north of Market Street in Onley, Accomack County. The crash involved a Bloxom ambulance and a Perdue tractor-trailer.

Preliminary investigation reveals that the tractor-trailer was stopped at a red traffic light in the left lane, while the Bloxom ambulance—traveling with emergency equipment activated—was en route to the hospital with a patient inside. As the ambulance attempted to go around the stopped tractor-trailer, it struck the vehicle, causing the ambulance to overturn.

The ambulance was driven by Jerry Corbett Kellam Sr., of Bennett Street in Parksley. He was transported to TidalHealth in Maryland, along with his wife and passenger, April Kellam. The driver of the Perdue tractor-trailer, Benjamin Albert Smithwick of Windsor, North Carolina, was not injured.

The patient in the ambulance, Amanda Bare of Nelsonia, and Jerry Corbett Kellam Jr. were both flown by medevac to Norfolk General Hospital.