January 15th, 2013 | 
Author: DALLAS, TX — A Dallas semi truck driver is lucky to be alive today after being rescued by a good samaritan who saw the trucker trapped in his burning cab after it overturned on the I-35 in Dallas, Texas.
A good samaritan pulled trucker, Elias Uribe, from a burning cab on January 9, 2013 when his semi truck crashed on the I-30 in Dallas, TX and caught fire.
The accident occurred on Wednesday, Jan. 9,at about 4:30 a.m. at the I-35E and I-30 when for unknown reasons, the truck driver, identified as Elias Uribe of Parker County, lost control of his 18-wheeler and hit the median. The truck landed on its side in the lanes of the I-30 interchange which caused his big rig to overturn and caught fire trapping him inside the cab.
Map showing location of fiery semi truck accident on I-30 in Dallas, TX where a trucker was rescued from certain death by a good samaritan on January 9, 2013.
Luckily, a passing woman on the I-30, identified as Terry Sims, witnessed the accident and was able to pull Uribe to safety through a window in the cab of the truck. Police said that Sims likely prevented the accident from becoming a fatality, although they are still trying to determined the cause of the accident.
NBC Latino reports:
“She was an angel to me,” Elias Uribe said. “She’s my hero.”
Reports say that Uribe lost control of his semi-trailer on a rain-slickened Interstate 30 near downtown. The truck burst into flames. His door was jammed shut. He remembers the fire just inches from his elbow.
“Probably 30 seconds more and I would have caught on fire,” he said.
Seconds from certain death with the flames spreading, a stranger showed up from nowhere, he said.
“And then in the distance I could hear a woman screaming, ‘Can you get out? Are you OK? Can you get out? It’s burning,’” he said.
The voice belonged to Terry Sims, who happened to be driving by on her way to work.
“I came around, and I saw flames coming from underneath the trailer, so I pulled him out of the truck,” she said, soon after it happened.
Sims said she was concerned for her own safety but ran up to the burning truck anyway.
“He was in the truck, and the door wouldn’t open,” she said. “We had to pull him out the window. I was just so scared it was going to blow.”
Sims then led Uribe to safety.
“I could barely walk, but I leaned on her and she pulled me all the way,” he said.
Within minutes, the entire cab was engulfed in flames.
Last May Uribe’s wife, Dolores, was killed in a car crash near their Parker County home. It makes what Sims did all the more special.
“I’d like to thank her very much,” Uribe said, choking back tears. “I don’t have words to say.”
After all this, Uribe said he’s going to take a break from driving professionally and “take some time with my kids and be with them.”
“More than ever, you don’t know how fragile life is,” he said.
The incident remains under investigation at this time.
Posted by Dallas truck accident lawyer Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP
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