HERE<\/a> for video story<\/p>\nFRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) \u2014 Melissa Culver is one of at least two dozen people who were involved in the deadly multi-vehicle crash on Highway 99 in Fresno on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Action News spoke with her and says she\u2019s just thankful to be alive and hug her children.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of nowhere, just this thick layer of fog,\u201d she says. \u201cA rattle and a sense of disbelief, and before composure can ever step in, yet again, it is another rattle, bang, all over the place, what just happened, and then on repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a moment that felt endless for Culver and her husband as they made their way to church.<\/p>\n
Their now crushed blue Hyundai was one of the 17 vehicles involved in the crash.<\/p>\n
Melissa says they were very aware of the foggy conditions but never expected to be in the middle of a pile-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ended up in a side-facing position, and I believe impacts three through seven were all on my husband\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melissa has bruises on her forearms and chest from her seatbelt. Her ribs are sore, and she\u2019s experiencing whiplash.<\/p>\n
Her husband also has bruises with several minor cuts.<\/p>\n
They were safe, but one couple involved in the pileup was not.<\/p>\n
The California Highway Patrol says the man and woman had gotten out of their car, which was struck by another car.<\/p>\n
61-year-old Gustavo Villanueva Vargas died at the scene, and his wife is in the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was thrown about 30 feet to the right shoulder, and the driver was thrown over the embankment,\u201d says CHP Officer Mike Salas.<\/p>\n
Investigators say the fog was a factor in the crash, with visibility estimated between 10 and 15 feet.<\/p>\n
Culver is now looking at life with a different perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing the children for the first time was surreal,\u201d she said. \u201cSuper thankful to be able to come home to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Action News also spoke on the phone with the man who was driving the big rig.<\/p>\n
He said he had never experienced such a quick transition from daylight to dense fog on the highway and is still shaken up.<\/p>\n
The CHP is urging drivers to be careful on the road.<\/p>\n
The crash is an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Click HERE for video story FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) \u2014 Melissa Culver is one of at least two dozen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-131741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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