TOMS RIVER – A fatal accident leaves a woman trapped inside her burning car, resulting in her death, police said.
Police and fire units were dispatched to Route 571 near Oak Ridge Parkway around 7 a.m. this morning regarding a crash involving a car on fire and the driver entrapped.
Claudine Silvestri, 52 of Toms River, was driving westbound on Route 571 in the left lane when she suddenly drifted into the right lane, hitting a curb and a guard rail, a witness told police.
The car then veered to the left and entered the oncoming traffic lanes where she collided head-on with a sign truck before her car caught fire.
Ocean County Scanner News reported that a witness stopped, along with others, and tried to free the woman. The doors were locked and unable to be opened, and her legs were trapped under the dash. The vehicle then began to catch fire, witnesses said.
When officers and EMTs arrived at the scene, they extinguished the fire. Silvestri was trapped and had to be extricated from her car. As a result of the accident, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Along with Toms River Police, Toms River EMT‘s, Pleasant Plains and Silverton Fire Companies, the Ocean County Prosecutor‘s Office, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department CSI, and Berkeley Hazmat reported to the accident scene.
At this time, the accident remains under investigation by Toms River Traffic Safety Officers Mark Nater and Ryan Fitzgerald.
