BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — The images are hard to forget. Monday's 80-vehicle pileup on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County claimed the lives of six people and injured dozens more.
Christine Miller of Bloomsburg was on the phone with her partner Michael Day at the time of the crash.
"I just heard him scream and I could hear crashing, people yelling, and metal flying. I could hear him breathing, but he did not reply," Miller recalled.
Moments later, Michael's son Stephen Day heard about the massive crash near Minersville.
"At that same time, I had gotten a phone call from my brother not to panic. ''We don't know for sure, but we think our dad might have been in it.'"
The family says it was a normal day at work for Michael. He was on his way to his next service call in Minersville when he was involved in the crash with 79 other vehicles. The family figured out Michael was in the crash by tracing GPS on his work vehicle.
"We were just calling him numerous times, and we just couldn't get a hold of him."
Michael was taken to Geisinger Medical Center near Danville. His family says he is in a medically-induced coma with a brain bleed, but his doctors are optimistic.
"There's still a lot of testing to be done, and a lot of his recovery is going to depend on how the brain heals so they can get to the rest," Miller said.
"Seeing the pictures of my father's vehicle, it's a miracle that he's still here in one piece with us," Stephen said.
Michael's family is thankful for all the prayers and support from the community, and they are thinking about everyone involved in Monday's crash.