RENSSELAER, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana State Police say a truck driver died Monday night in a fiery semi crash on Interstate 65 southbound just north of Rensselaer.
ISP Sgt. Glen Fifield says the call for the crash involving three semis first came in around 10 p.m. Monday.
State police say that a red semi without a trailer was stopped in the right lane of the highway when a blue semi-trailer came up behind it at a high rate of speed.
The blue truck then swerved into the median to avoid hitting red truck, but another semitruck following behind the blue one crashed into the red semi.
The driver of the third semitruck became trapped in the cab and died at the scene. The red semi’s driver escaped the vehicle before it burst into flames.
In an update at 10:30 a.m., Fifield gave a brief video tour of the cleanup efforts. Crews were still hosing off piles of peat moss which had caught fire earlier in the morning, and slabs of the burned trailer were seen loaded up on a tow truck flatbed.
Fifield says as of 1 p.m. ET, there was no timeline for I-65 to reopen. INDOT Northwest says the fire caused some pavement damage, which will delay the highway’s reopening.
Traffic was being diverted at exit 220; drivers were asked to use U.S. 41, U.S. 231, or State Road 55 as alternative routes.
The truck driver’s name and age have not been released.
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