DPS: 7 dead, 2 hurt in fiery I-10 crash (ARIZONA)

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PHOENIX (CBS5) -Seven people are confirmed dead in a two-vehicle collision that closed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 near Salome Sunday for hours, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.
The two-vehicle collision involving a tractor-trailer and a van carrying seven occupants happened at about 11 a.m. Salome is about 60 miles west of Phoenix.
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• SLIDESHOW: I-10 fatal crash

The tractor-trailer was traveling in the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 near the Burnt Wells rest area when it crossed the median and hit a passenger car in the eastbound lanes, the DPS spokesman said.
DPS officers said the tractor-trailer was fully loaded with about 80,000 pounds of soda and was traveling about 75 mph when it hit the van head-on.

The impact pushed both vehicles into a culvert on the shoulder of the highway, where they caught fire.
DPS investigators said the driver of the tractor-trailer and his wife were seriously injured and airlifted to a Phoenix hospital. They are expected to be OK.

Names of the victims have not yet been released. Investigators said the van was registered in a small western Arizona town, but further details on the victim are not yet available.
DPS Officer Currick Cook said the bodies are so badly burned that there is no way to determine ages or genders of the victims. An anthropologist from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office is expected to arrive at the scene to help with identification.

Traffic was being detoured six miles around the investigation at mile post 94, in Tonopah until 5 p.m. Sunday. One of the eastbound lanes of the freeway has reopened.
Investigators expect to continue processing the scene until 9 p.m. Sunday.

Stay with cbs5az.com and CBS 5 News for updates on this developing story.
Copyright 2012 CBS5 (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.

 

wow... terrible tragic news. probably tired maybe? whatever the cause i pray for the people in that van and for their familys. but the news is also wrong because there is no way he had 80,000 pounds of soda inside the trailer. if they are gonna report that at least know what they are talking about

 

Very sad and tragic. Prayers to those involved. I'd say the truck driver is looking at some serious charges, unless there was some major mechanical malfunction that would have made it impossible to keep the rig on his side of the road.

Reporters rarely get such things right. We all know that would be the gross weight, not the amount of product he was carrying. I was watching a documentary on the History Channel today about Mega Movers. The narrator called a Wheelloader, a bulldozer. You just have to let their little ignorant blurbs go in one ear and out the other.

 

there was another wreck at about the 85 on the east bound side...dont know the details but it was shut down....just went thru there a lil bit ago....lots of wrecks out today in AZ...it was raining.....saw 4 wrecks alone just in tucson today....


what an awful mess....prayers for those left behind...how sad....

 

its just so hard when i get told im politically incorrect because of my opinions but someone can say stupid things like that or its like calling concrete cement!! being a concrete guy for 5 years before driving it drives me crazy

 

Might have been this one. The truck was Westbound but traveled clear across to the Eastbound side and hit the mini van head on than continued pushing the Van with it clear off the road to the other side of the eastbound lanes.

I read the Truck driver and his wife were air lifted to the hospital and are expected to recover-
All who were in the van were burned beyond recognition. Said they were from a Small town West of Phoenix so waiting to hear as I live just 30 miles West of where this happened.

 

you know...you are probably right.....still one heck of a backup...when i went thru i tried hollering at several east bounders to tell them they were stopped ahead...NOT ONE would answer me....

 

I heard it was backed up for 10 miles- they didn't open it till about 4PM
I think, but people rubbernecking keeps the traffic moving slow.

 

no skid marks at ALL...just seemed to have gone off the roadway....7 lives lost....in an instant...i hope they perished quickly and didnt suffer....its my turn for bed....however i wont be able to go to sleep now...cant get this out of my mind....

 

We have come across some accidents with cars themselves involved only where if only...... slowed down, put seat belts on, paid attention, whatever, they would still be alive. Some of these were on days with sun and no rain.

It is too bad you couldn't turn on a CB and not have to listen to bull or cussing or fighting, this used to be a way to inform truckers of wrecks before they came across it the hard way; now most truckers don't even bother using them so you're stuck out with a tool that won't work.