Two people died in a fiery, multivehicle crash that shut down Interstate 40 eastbound in West Memphis on Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency personnel arrived shortly before noon at a construction zone at the 275-mile marker of the interstate. Seven vehicles, four of which were 18-wheelers, were involved in the collision, according to Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler.
Iketha Winchester, 45, of Houston, and Robert Billings, 68, of Nesbit, Miss., were pronounced dead at the scene. Five other people injured in the crash were taken to Regional Medical Center in Memphis for treatment.
Circumstances of the crash were unclear. An investigation is ongoing, Sadler said.
Traffic was diverted to U.S. 70 as firefighters doused flaming vehicles, and emergency personnel cleaned up debris from the crash site Wednesday afternoon. The West Memphis Fire Department posted photos on Facebook showing an 18-wheeler and other vehicles burning in a twisted heap after the crash.
The photos also show charred vehicle parts and trailer cargo including boxes, pallets and industrial spools strewn across the highway.
Personnel with the Marion and Edmondson fire departments responded to the crash, as well.
The crash also involved an Arkansas Highway Police vehicle that was parked on the eastbound shoulder just outside the construction zone, according to Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Randy Ort.
A highway officer in the vehicle was not injured.
Ort said late Wednesday that he hadn't received reports of damage to the interstate, which reopened shortly after 6 p.m.
In another fatal accident, a Hamburg woman died Tuesday afternoon when her vehicle collided with a loaded log truck in Ashley County, according to state police.
Katricia Dawn Taylor, 40, was driving south on Arkansas 133 when she crossed over the centerline and hit the northbound Mack truck at 3:52 p.m. Taylor was taken to Ashley County Medical Center, where she died. The truck driver, Steven Forrest, was not injured.
According to the state police, conditions were clear and dry at the time of the crash.
State police also reported that a Green Forest man was killed Monday evening in a one-vehicle crash on U.S. 62 in Benton County.
Michael Ervin Miller, 62, died after his eastbound vehicle left the roadway and struck an embankment 2 miles east of Garfield about 7:55 p.m. Miller was pronounced dead at the scene, according to state police. Conditions were clear and dry when the crash occurred.
Metro on 11/06/2014