{"id":132939,"date":"2026-01-14T08:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/132939\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:06:39","slug":"survivors-recount-deadly-17-vehicle-crash-on-highway-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/132939\/","title":{"rendered":"Survivors recount deadly 17-vehicle crash on Highway 99"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Melissa and Jason Culver were on their way to Grace Church of the Valley in Kingsburg Sunday morning when their drive on Highway 99 turned into a fight to survive.<\/p>\n

The married couple of 27 years was traveling southbound when thick fog moved in without warning, reducing visability down to feet, not miles. <\/p>\n

Jason Culver said conditions looked normal just before impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could see a half mile \u2014 no problem,\u201d he said. \u201cThen all of a sudden, there was just a wall of fog.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Culvers\u2019 car was hit seven times: they hit the car in front of them<\/a> who broke suddenly, they then got him from behind, and from the sides, placing them in what Melissa described as a second cluster of vehicles in the pile-up. Their car was totaled.<\/p>\n

\"(Courtesy<\/p>\n

(Courtesy Melissa Culver.) <\/p>\n

Despite the violent impacts, the couple escaped with only minor injuries, including bruises, scratches and sore ribs. <\/p>\n

\"Only<\/p>\n

Only light bruising between she and her husband. (KMPH)<\/p>\n

They said emergency crews arrived within minutes and helped remove the front door of their vehicle so they could get out safely.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/p>\n

At the scene of the Highway 99 17-vehicle pile-up on Sunday January 11.<\/p>\n

What worried Melissa most wasn\u2019t the damage: it was family.<\/p>\n

She knew their adult children were traveling just minutes behind them on the highway, with her father also not far back.<\/p>\n

“My first response wasn\u2019t checking myself.” Melissa said. “It was making sure they turned around.”<\/p>\n

Melissa sent an emergency SOS alert from her watch and followed up with calls and texts. Her children and father received the message and avoided the crash area.<\/p>\n

The California Highway Patrol says the crash involved 17 vehicles and killed 61-year-old Gustavo Villanueva Vargas of Fresno. Several others were injured. Investigators say fog was the primary factor.<\/p>\n

Jason Culver said surviving the crash changed his perspective.<\/p>\n

God spared our lives<\/p>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

The Culvers said they were traveling about 60 miles per hour when the crash happened and are urging drivers to slow down when fog reduces visibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlive and late is better than the alternative,\u201d Melissa Culver explained<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Melissa and Jason Culver were on their way to Grace Church of the Valley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-132939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132939","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=132939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}