Two crashes Tuesday involving tractor-trailers in Texas and Kansas resulted in eight fatalities.
A crash involving four tractor-trailers and two other vehicles claimed three lives, including that of a truck driver, Tuesday afternoon along I-35 in Waco, Texas.
While investigators are still unclear how the wreck occurred, they do know that one truck hit two passenger cars and pushed them under the trailer of another truck, according to a report from KXTX.
The trucker whose trailer was hit by the two cars told the news station his trailer immediately caught fire. The report states Harry Turner, a driver for CFI, was hauling seed and fertilizer, which was exploding as it caught fire.
“I was looking out the mirror and I heard (a noise), it hit the other two cars behind me, and he (the truck driver behind him) slammed both of those cars into my trailer,” Turner told the news station. “My trailer got on fire and I had to jump out. When I opened my door and got out of the tractor, I seen my tractor was bent like this, and the end of it was on fire with two cars up under it.”
Another accident Tuesday involving two tractor-trailers and four other cars killed five people along I-70 in Kansas.
WDAF in Kansas City reports a truck driver didn’t apply his brakes in enough time before hitting several cars and another truck, causing a fire. Investigators told the station the driver of a truck topped a hill and “for an unknown reason, did not recognize that the traffic was stopped.”
The report adds that brake marks on the highway show the truck attempted to stop just prior to the impact.
Tragically there were 3 vehicles between these semis before they collided on I-70 killing 5 people. pic.twitter.com/y6KKnh1rkI
— Dave D'Marko (@DaveDMarko) July 12, 2017
