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Dispatchers scrambled to find a sign language interpreter as they responded to the crash that killed a deaf Godzilla vs Kong actress.
Kaylee Hottle died at the age of 18 in Frederick, Maryland in the US when the driver veered off the road and slammed into a roadside ditch on Tuesday.
Dispatchers can be heard in audio revealed by TMZ scrambling to find an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to inform the child star's family, who are all deaf.
The responders said: 'This is a result of a vehicle accident, patient is unconscious. Are we able to check with the city to see if they have anyone that knows sign language.
'She was apparently up here visiting and the friend she is with doesn't have any contact for her family or any information... Does anyone have access to the interpreter?'
Ms Hottle was found unconscious before her heart stopped on the way to the hospital, while two others in the vehicle at the time survived the accident.
The driver, 19, suffered non-life-threatening injuries to his right leg and rib, while another passenger did not receive treatment at the scene, according to TMZ.
The responders ordered an ambulance and an emergency aircraft, which landed on a field near the crash scene. The actress was rushed to a trauma center, but was sadly pronounced dead.
Her death was confirmed by her father Joshua on Tuesday in a tearful livestream shared to Facebook, which was in ASL.
The stream was titled 'I am taking a flight that I never would like to take,' in which he described having to travel from Texas to claim his daughter's body.
Mr Hottle, who is also deaf, said via ASL that he received a phone call from officials telling him his daughter's heart had stopped on the way to the hospital not long after he learned about the accident.
His daughter was best known as playing Jia in the 2021 adventure film, where she could communicate with King Kong using sign language.
She also featured in the 2024 sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, for which she gained a nomination for best performance by a younger actor at the Saturn awards.
She starred alongside Millie Bobby Brown, who played Madison Russell, the teenage daughter of quasi-governmental scientists.
The Stranger Things star led the tributes with a post of Ms Hottle in the hit sci-fi film on her Instagram story, writing: 'I'm so devastated to hear this. You will be deeply missed Kaylee.'
Rebecca Hall, who played her adopted mother, also took to Instagram to pay tribute to her on-screen daughter with a carousel of photos of the pair.
She wrote: 'Devastated to hear this news. My heart goes out to your family. You will be missed Kaylee.'
The actress and their co-star Alexander Skarsgård both learned ASL so they could communicate with Ms Hottle on set.
The teenager previously said in an interview with CherryPicks: 'I think some people see ASL and deafness as a barrier or a gift, but it's just a language, and deaf is just deaf.
'We can do many things, just not hear. We need more deaf actresses and crew in the industry for people to see and normalize it.'
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