State police say a series of crashes on Interstate 81 a few miles southwest of Wytheville killed two people and seriously injured another person. It started when tractor-trailer overturned sometime before 3:30 a.m, coming to rest across the median and one travel lane. The truck driver was able to escape without injury before a passenger vehicle hit the truck. The driver of the passenger vehicle died on the way to the hospital. Police say moments after the first incident, a tractor-trailer traveling north on I-81 struck a guardrail left on the roadway from the original accident and ran off the left side of the interstate. It struck a bridge and crashed below onto Rt. 90 (Black Lick Road). The tractor-trailer caught fire upon impact. The driver of that rig died at the scene. A passenger was ejected from the sleeper cab and flown to a nearby hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
Click here to read the full State Police news release
(Continue reading for State Police photos at the scene.)
(VSP photo)
below on Rt. 90
(VSP photo)
