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TULARE COUNTY, Calif. — A woman and her mother were injured after becoming trapped in a massive 59-car pileup on Highway 99 early Saturday morning while traveling from Oxnard to the Central Valley.
Yamel Angel said she and her mother were driving north when they suddenly found themselves in the middle of the crash, which was captured on video from inside their car.
“I had no shoes. I just ran out. We ran to the grass as fast as we could and we just watched everything happen,” Angel said.
Video Angel, later posted to TikTok, shows widespread destruction, with victims standing in the center divider as they tried to get to safety.
RELATED: Highway 99 in Central California reopens after 59-vehicle pileup, CHP says
As the scene unfolded, the second crash occurred on the opposite side of the highway.
“We just saw cars after cars crashing everywhere,” Angel said.
Angel and her mother were taken to the hospital. Angel suffered head and hip injuries, while her mother sustained a back injury.
“There were people trying to help trying to help the injured. It was really bad. My heart was racing really fast. Everything flashed my head went blank,” Angel said.
Dashcam footage from a different vantage point shows the start of a second pileup, including a semi-truck losing control and slamming into the center median.
Video shared by Kern County Crime Streams highlights just how dense the fog was at the time of the crashes.
“It was just people on the left side on the right side in front,” said Andres of Kern County Crime Streams. “It was just a lot of screaming people were sad and confused. They didn’t know what to do.”
Photos from the scene show the severity of the damage, including an image of a single tire wedged between two semis.
A photo was taken by Augie Martinez with Delano Towing, one of about a dozen tow companies called in to assist. Crews worked into the afternoon hauling damaged vehicles from the wreckage.
For Angel, the images and sounds from that morning remain unforgettable.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life. I’ll never forget the screams and the shots from people or the blood the cars I’ll never forget it,” she said.
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