T-L Photo/ ROBERT A. DEFRANK An employee at the Wendy’s restaurant on Ohio 7 in Martins Ferry was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital for serious burns Tuesday after a reported accident at the drive-through around noon.

MARTINS FERRY — An employee at the Wendy’s restaurant on Ohio 7 in Martins Ferry was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital for severe burns from a fryer Tuesday after an accident at the drive-through around noon.

Martins Ferry Police Chief John McFarland spoke about the incident shortly afterward and said first responders were shaken by the extent of the accident.

“It’s a bad thing, we won’t be able to unsee. We just hope he’s all right,” he said.

“From what we’re able to gather, there was a vehicle in the drive-through and the driver, we’re thinking accidentally hit the accelerator, which caused the vehicle to hit a door, which was located west of the drive through, the door’s actually an employee entrance. When the vehicle hit the wall, it caused the deep fryer located inside the store to jolt forward, causing all the hot grease to splash overtop of an employee that was cleaning inside,” he said. “He was standing right in front of the fryer when it jolted forward.”

McFarland said a good Samaritan was also present and offered immediate aid on-scene.

“The employee had severe burns over most of his body. We arrived on-scene. There was a nurse practitioner there who I believe was just in the drive-through to get something, seen what happened and she was a Godsend. She did a lot of help for the victim, helping him and helping us till the EMTs arrived,” he said.

“Once the EMT arrived, they determined that he needed to be life-flighted, so the life-flight showed up in maybe 15 to 20 minutes,” McFarland said, adding the helicopter landed on Ohio 7 just north of Edna Street.

He said he believed the employee was transported to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.

“It didn’t look very good, and our prayers go out to him,” McFarland said.

Emergency personnel from Martins Ferry, Bridgeport, and Colerain responded.

“In times of need, everyone here in town and in the surrounding communities, we always find a way to pull together and make sure the job gets done right. Things went very well with getting him into the squad and getting the life flight there. The officers did an outstanding job,” he said.

McFarland said the driver, who was not identified, would likely be charged with failure to control.