HAZELHURST - After crashing head-on into a semi truck on Highway 51 late Monday afternoon, the driver of an SUV is still alive.

She was taken away in an ambulance with a broken arm.

The crash happened on Highway 51 and South Blue Lake Road in Hazelhurst just before 5:00 p.m.

Bob Ruf, Hazelhurst's assistant fire chief, was talking to the SUV driver as the jaws ripped away parts of the car to get her out.

"You hate to see something like this, but we've had tragedies before, and I think she'll make it," he says. "Running into a semi like that, either she drifted or I don't know what happened, I don't want to say that either, but he moved over as far as he could and that's where he ended up and she got the brunt of it.

The drivers were the only two people involved, and the semi truck driver walked away from the scene without any injuries.

"It appears that the Chevy Traverse crossed the center line," says Jerry Ryden, Hazelhurst's fire chief.

Ryden says that's an indication the SUV driver was at fault. He says airbags likely saved her life.

It took rescue workers about forty minutes to get the woman out of her car.

Ryden says she was probably picked up by med-flight at Howard Young Medical Center and taken to Marshfield.

Traffic was backed up in both directions for about an hour, with the road blocked by at least eight rescue vehicles.

Story By: Lex Gray