AUSTIN, Ind. – Indiana State Police (ISP) troopers and crash reconstruction investigators from the Indiana State Police (ISP) Sellersburg Post are investigating a three-vehicle accident that claimed the lives of two drivers on I-65 southbound just south of Austin late Monday night.
Emergency personnel responded at around 11:50 p.m. to a reported crash and truck fire on southbound I-65 near the 33-mile marker, just south of the Austin exit. Officers found three semi-trucks blocking both lanes of traffic, with two of those semis on fire. Firefighters from several area departments extinguished the blaze.
Based on their preliminary examination, ISP crash reconstructionists believe a tractor-trailer was stopped in traffic due to construction near mile marker 31. A second semi stopped but a third tractor-trailer failed to stop and smashed into the second truck, pushing it into the first truck.
The second and third semis immediately caught fire. The drivers in both the second and third trucks died at the scene, and a driver in the sleeper of the third semi was flown to University Hospital in Louisville with severe burn injuries. Investigators have not released the drivers’ identities.
Both lanes of southbound I-65 remained closed for about 11 hours for investigation and cleanup.
