March 7, 1999
Web posted at: 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT)

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Country music legend George Jones remained in critical condition Sunday, one day after he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a bridge abutment.

Jones suffered a collapsed lung, blood in his chest and a ruptured liver in the accident, said Dr. John Morris of Vanderbilt University Hospital, where Jones is in the trauma unit.

Morris said Saturday evening he expected the singer to remain in critical condition "for at least 24 to 48 hours."

"The liver injury is what we're most concerned about," he said. "He's already received some blood. If he requires much in the way of additional blood, we'll have to reconsider our current approach."

Jones has been unconscious, under general anesthesia, since he arrived at the hospital, Morris said. "The body responds to this kind of injury much better if we can control the pain," he explained.

Jones was driving east Saturday on Highway 96 near his home south of Nashville when he lost control of his Lexus sport utility vehicle and hit a bridge abutment, according to Tennessee Department of Safety spokeswoman Dana Keeton.

At the time of the crash, Jones was talking to his stepdaughter, Adina Estes, on a cellular phone, said Evelyn Shriver, head of Asylum Records, Jones' record label. Shriver talked to Estes after the accident

"He was calling to say he's almost home, and she heard the crash and everything," Shriver said.

It took two hours for rescuers to free him from the vehicle. A helicopter airlifted him about 20 miles from the site of the one-car accident to the hospital.