Two sisters and three children escaped uninjured from a weather-related accident near Ark City Tuesday that sent their van sliding off the road and teetering on the edge of falling into a large pond, authorities said.
"Everyone was just fine, but talking with deputies I know it was very close to being much, much worse," Cowley County undersheriff Bill Mueller said. "They were fortunate."
Lori Feemster, 17, Lawrenceville, Ill., was driving a 1998 Ford Astro Van west on U.S. 166 just east of 291st Rd. when the she lost control of the van on the snow-packed highway. Feemster’s sister, Elizabeth Threlkeld, 23, Ponca City, and three children, all under the age of five, were in the vehicle.
Mueller said the van left the south side of a hilly section of the roadway around 9:45 p.m.
"It just happened to get stopped before it went into the water," Mueller said of the van.
The accident scene itself was difficult to locate, even for deputies. A semi-truck driver ? who had the advantage of being perched higher off the highway ? initially spotted the van. Feemster, Threlkeld and the children waited inside the truck for authorities to arrive.
"Obviously we don’t know what might have happened, but the potential was there for things to go very badly," Mueller said. "Fortunately that wasn’t the case."
