7-vehicle crash kills 1, injures 2 near Indianapolis
By Melissa Alonso, CNN
(CNN) — One person is dead and two are hospitalized after a seven-vehicle crash just outside of Indianapolis shut down part of a freeway and left one car overturned and engulfed in flames, police say.
The Saturday afternoon crash involved three semi-tractor trailers and four cars on Interstate 70, near the town of Plainfield, according to Indiana State Police.
Traffic on the interstate was initially backed up due to a minor crash, police said in a news release.
“As traffic backed up, the driver of a semi-tractor trailer failed to stop in time and hit the back of stopped traffic. Two vehicles rolled over and several other vehicles received heavy damage,” the release said.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene where several vehicles were severely damaged, “one of which was upside down and fully engulfed in flames,” according to police.
As the Plainfield Fire Department crews “hastily extinguished the flames, they located the driver who was entrapped in the wreckage” and died at the scene, police said.
First responders also found two people who were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The crash shut down the eastbound lanes of the interstate for nearly six hours while responders investigated and removed the wreckage, police said.
Authorities are still investigating the crash and do not believe alcohol or drugs were contributing factors.
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CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
