ST. LOUIS — The survivor of the Edwardsville tornado is now recovering at Saint Louis University Hospital.
"Bruising everywhere, couple of stitches here, fractured pelvic bone, tailbone area, fractured thigh bone near the hip that we had surgery on yesterday," said 39-year-old Craig Yost.
Three days ago, Yost went to work as a DPS delivery driver at the Edwardsville Amazon Warehouse on what seemed like just another ordinary day.
"Normally we go in and drop off packages that were undelivered and return our tools that we get, but we were parking vans and being told to take shelter," Yost said.
He was inside of the building, finishing his shift, when an EF-3 tornado hit the facility Friday night around 8:30.
"I saw a flash of the lights, a flicker and I took a step to my right and the wall fell on me," Yost said.
Yost was trapped underneath one of the 40-foot tall concrete walls. First responders pulled him out just after midnight and then he was airlifted to SLU Hospital.
"I was concentrating on one thing and that was breathing, because I was being crushed by that wall. From the time that it did take, I went from having a little room to none and it started to crush my head at the end, and it was scary," Yost recalled.
Yost took shelter in the same bathroom on the south end of the building, where six people lost their lives.
"Those that weren't as lucky as me, I was as close to them as we are to one another in here now at that moment and that's been a lot to take in. A couple of them I worked very closely with. A couple of them I didn't know well, but if they were in that building and working there, they were good people," according to Yost.
He's in recovery now, and grateful to be alive, but heartbroken for the ones who didn't survive.
"Being able to even just talk to but let alone hug and kiss the people that I love is amazing. I'm still thinking about those people that weren't as lucky as I was and their families because I just can't imagine what they're going through. I can't," Yost said.
Yost said they were aware of the tornado warnings from their cell phone alerts.
He was told by staff that the bathroom was the dedicated place for shelter.
He expressed his gratitude for all of the first responders who saved his life.