A truck driver and two other people died Saturday morning when a tanker loaded with jet fuel crashed into two stopped cars on the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension (Interstate 476) in Montgomery County near Philadelphia.
Police and media reports say a car had stopped in the right lane because of a flat tire. A second vehicle's driver stopped behind it to lend assistance. The tanker could not stop and slammed into the two stopped vehicles and all three caught fire.
The truck driver as well as the driver and a passenger in the second vehicle died in the crash. The driver of the car that stopped with the flat tire was hospitalized with what first responders said were non-life-threatening injuries. There was a passenger in that car, but their condition was unknown.
The turnpike was closed in both directions for much of the day. The southbound lanes reopened Saturday evening and the northbound lanes reopened early Sunday.
Some residents in homes near the crash site were evacuated for a short period of time Saturday.
