Three people were killed yesterday morning on the Mountain Parkway in Morgan County when a pickup truck crossed the center line and crashed head-on into an ambulance transporting an elderly woman, Kentucky State Police said.

The victims included Nell Catherine Crigger, 83, a resident in a Salyersville nursing home; Sandy Shepherd, 26, of Salyersville, an emergency medical technician in the ambulance; and Brian K. Gilvin, 29, of Mount Sterling, the driver of the pickup.

The lone survivor, ambulance driver Charles G. Vanderpool, 33, of Salyersville, was transported by helicopter to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington where he was listed in serious condition last night in the intensive-care unit.

Trooper Ralph Lockard of the Morehead post said the accident occurred at 6:15 a.m. at Adele, a small community between mile markers 59 and 60 on a gradual curve in the two-lane section of the parkway.

``It looked like the pickup truck went out of control, crossed the center line and struck the ambulance, which was westbound,'' Lockard said.

Investigators have not determined what caused Gilvin to lose control of his truck, a 1998 Ford F-150, but he said, ``we haven't ruled out drugs or alcohol as a factor.''

The accident occurred about 15 minutes after officials at G&B Ambulance Service in Salyersville said Crigger was picked up at the Salyersville Health Care and Rehabilitation Center.

Kila Keeton, a spokeswoman for the ambulance service, said Crigger was being transported to Lexington for a doctor's appointment.

Tom Hummer, director of the nursing home, said Crigger had been a resident since 1997 and described her as ``a very sweet lady who was very active in all the activities we have.''

Hummer said ambulances routinely provide transportation to area medical-treatment facilities for nursing-home patients.

It was at least the second time a G&B ambulance has been involved in a traffic fatality. In 1992, four people were killed in Johnson County when police said an ambulance returning from Paintsville to Salyersville on U.S. 460 crossed into the path of an oncoming, loaded coal truck.

This time, Lockard said Vanderpool, the G&B driver, apparently tried unsuccessfully to dodge the oncoming pickup.

Keeton said Vanderpool was an experienced driver who had been working for G&B since 1992. Morgan County Sheriff Bill Frank Lacy said Vanderpool appeared to be badly injured, but that he was still conscious when rescue workers arrived.

Crigger and Gilvin were pronounced dead at the scene by Morgan County Coroner Marlin Potter at 7:21 a.m.

Shepherd, a G&B employee since 1995, was pronounced dead at the UK hospital, Lockard said. A Fayette County coroner's report said she was riding in the back of the ambulance when the crash occurred. The cause of death was listed as blunt-force trauma to her head and chest.

Mrs. Crigger, a former store manager, was the mother of Jo Ann Cornett of Nicholasville.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church in Paintsville. Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. today at Paintsville Funeral Home.

Arrangements for Ms. Shepherd, the daughter of Ella Shepherd of Salyersville, were pending at Magoffin County Funeral Home in Salyersville.

Arrangements for Mr. Gilvin, the son of Earl Clay Gilvin and Judy Gilvin of Mount Sterling, were pending at Herald & Stewart Home for Funerals in Mount Sterling.

KENTUCKY EMS MEMORIAL

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