Crashes tie up interstate traffic
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Two crashes on area highways snarled traffic Monday morning, including one just over the state line on Interstate 70 in West Virginia in which two Lancaster County women died.
The fatal crash on I-70 westbound happened just east of the Dallas Pike exit about 4 a.m. Less than an hour later, a rig traveling in South Strabane Township from I-70 eastbound to northbound Interstate 79 at the north junction rolled over when its load shifted.
The two women who died were the only occupants of a car that was going east in the westbound lane, said Sheriff Pat Butler of the Ohio County, W.Va., Sheriff’s Department.
“We believe they got on I-70 going eastbound, going the wrong way in the westbound lane, at the Dallas Pike exit,” Butler said Monday. “They collided with a tractor-trailer about a half-mile from the exit.
“We are still trying to determine what happened, and quite frankly, we may never know,” the sheriff added. “We believe they may have gotten off the exit and either got gas or something to eat.”
The women, both from Elizabethtown, were pronounced dead at the scene. Butler said one of the women was in her 50s and the other was in her 80s. Their names were not released pending notification of next of kin.
Pennsylvania state police were notified about 4:10 a.m. of the crash and asked to reroute westbound traffic off the highway onto Route 40 in Donegal Township. State police, assisted by local fire departments and the state Department of Transportation, got westbound vehicles off at the Claysville exit.
Butler said a second crash occurred after I-70 was reopened to one lane of traffic Monday morning. No injuries were reported, but crews had to clean up a diesel spill.
The rig involved in the north junction crash about 4:45 a.m. was hauling 60-pound bags of a snow-like filler used in the food industry, said township fire Chief Scott Reese.
“The bags were on 10 to 12 pallets that were unsecured,” Reese said. “I believe he may have taken the ramp a little fast. When the unsecured pallets shifted, the rig flipped.”
Traffic had to be stopped while the rig was set back up on its wheels. Reese said the driver, identified as Beniam Gabressallasie of Stone Mountain, Ga., was not injured in the crash.
Additional information, including whether the driver faces charges, was not immediately available from state police.