Park dispatch learned of a serious accident on Newfound Gap Road south of Sugarlands Visitor Center on the afternoon of August 7th. Rangers arrived on scene about 10 minutes later and found that a 1998 Ford Expedition had gone off the road and hit a tree and that two of the occupants were trapped inside. A family of four – Kishalay Hoare, 53, his wife Sarasiga, 50, and their sons Saptarshi, 18, and Rajeev – 13 – had been heading northbound on the highway when the Expedition, driven by the father, drifted off the right side of the road and down a ten-foot bank, then hit the tree. Four ambulances and two rescue units from Gatlinburg arrived just minutes after the rangers. Rescue personnel cut the sides off the vehicle to free Sarasiga and Rajeev, who were trapped in the wreck. They were judged to be in sufficiently serious condition to warrant medevac flights to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Two helicopters flew to the park, landed in the VC parking lot, picked them up, and flew them to the hospital. Saptarshi was taken by ambulance to Ft. Sanders Sevier Medical Center. Newfound Gap Road was closed for about three hours while the Expedition was removed and rangers conducted an investigation.
