BUCKHANNON – A man in his 80s was seriously injured following a two-vehicle wreck on U.S. Route 33 West near the Red Rock Road intersection Thursday afternoon.

Charles Bennett of French Creek was life-flighted to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown from the scene of the wreck, which happened just after 4 p.m. in the eastbound lane of Route 33, according to investigating officer Patrolman Angel McCauley with the Buckhannon Police Department.

McCauley said Bennett had been traveling east in the right lane at a very slow rate of speed when a Lykins Energy Solutions truck being driven by Joshua Davis, 31, also of French Creek, tried to slow down but was unable to do so in time. As a result, the Lykins tanker truck rear-ended the white Suzuki Grand Vitara Bennett was driving.

It took firefighters and emergency personnel about 30 minutes to extricate Bennett from the vehicle.

“When the Lykins truck rear-ended [Bennett’s vehicle], that caused him to fish-tail and go across the median and into oncoming traffic,” McCauley said. “He went down over the embankment and ended up against a fence.”

Witnesses told McCauley they observed Bennett traveling very slowly prior to the wreck.

A spokesperson with WVU Medicine said Thursday afternoon that Bennett’s condition was listed as serious.

McCauley said no citations were issued.