Tree Falls On Car: 2 Sisters Killed When Tree Suddenly Falls Due To ‘Dry Rot’


A tree fell on a car in Conemaugh Township, Pennsylvania, crushing it and killing two young sisters who were in the backseat. According to CBS News, police say that “dry rot” caused the tree to suddenly fall over. The car was driving down Route 403 around 2:30 in the afternoon when, out of nowhere, the tree just toppled over, right on top of the family’s vehicle.

A witness recalled the frightening scene:

“I saw this lady get out of the passenger seat and she was yelling, ‘My babies.’ We did watch them cut the doors off and cut the roof off, and get the driver out of the car.”

When a tree falls on a car, no one can really predict it. Unless there is a major storm — when you’d expect a tree or limb to suddenly fall — there really was not any way in telling that this was going to happen at that exact moment. Sadly, this could not have been avoided. The car was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the tree had plans of its own.

The two sisters in the back of the Pontiac Grand AM have been identified as 8-year-old Ryleigh Freiwald and 6-year-old Macayla Freiwald. The girls died from blunt force trauma, according to the coroner. Also inside the car were 5-year-old Ciara Freiwald and 3-year-old Lillie Freiwald who were both injured but are expected to be okay. The mother of the four girls is eight months pregnant and she managed to get herself out of the car. She and her unborn child are physically okay. Obviously the emotional toll is one that is hard to even think about.

The driver of the car, Jason Himebaugh, 36, was unconscious but was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown. The car was totaled.

The tree that fell on the car was “rotted at the base,” according to Conemaugh Township Police Chief Louis Barclay (via ABC News). He called the incident a “freak accident.”

Another accident occurred this past weekend in Lake Ozark, Missouri. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a bride-to-be was on her way to her bachelorette party in a car driven by her best friend. The driver of the car tried to pass a truck and ended up colliding with another vehicle head-on. The bride-to-be died at the hospital three hours after the crash. The driver survived the accident but is mourning the tragic loss of her best friend.

[Photo courtesy of CBS News]

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