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The driver of the Buick, 79-year-old Pearl F. Thornton, was also seriously injured. It took emergency crews over half an hour to extract her from her car, which was thrown several feet into a ditch running alongside the highway. Both she and Carolyn were taken by helicopter to a Cape Girardeau hospital for treatment of their injuries.
The Sloans were pulling a utility flatbed trailer at the time, and the contents – a refrigerator and several bags of garbage – were strewn across the highway as a result of the accident. Traffic on Highway 25 had to rerouted for over an hour following the accident.
The only person wearing a seat belt was Mrs. Thornton.