AUSTIN, Ind. — Two people are dead and a major interstate was closed for several hours Tuesday morning after a fatal crash involving three semi-trucks.
At about 11:50 p.m. on Monday, police and EMS responded to a crash and truck fire on I-65 southbound near the 33 mile marker, just south of the Austin exit, according to an Indiana State Police news release.
Officers found three semi-trucks blocking both lanes of traffic with two of the semi-trucks on fire. First responders and firefighters from Jennings Township, Scottsburg City, Vienna Township and other nearby departments responded to the fire.
Investigators believe a white Volvo semi-truck stopped in traffic due to construction near the 31-mile marker when a second semi-truck slowed to stop behind it. Shortly after, a third tractor-trailer failed to stop and collided with the second truck.
The collision pushed the second truck into the trailer of the first truck. Both the second and third semi-trucks immediately caught fire after the crash.
The drivers in both the second and third tractor-trailers died at the scene. "There was actually a third driver in the sleeper of the third truck who was flown to university hospital in Louisville with severe burns," Indiana State Police Sergeant Carey Huls explained, "so it's just a tragic crash all the way around."
Huls said the driver in the sleeper of the truck is expected to survive and the driver of the first semi-truck was left uninjured.
As of Tuesday afternoon, authorities haven't released the identities of anyone involved in the crash. ISP's investigation is still ongoing.
All lanes of I-65 southbound between IN-256 and Moonglo Road were blocked for nearly 12 hours, but they're now clear.
We will update this story with more information as we learn more.
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