Two people were killed and an Arkansas Highway Police officer hurt in a fiery Wednesday crash that blocked parts of both eastbound and westbound Interstate 40 in Crittenden County, authorities said.
The officer was not seriously hurt, but two people in a truck were fatally injured, Arkansas State Police spokewoman Cindy Murphy said Wednesday afternoon. Murphy didn’t have any further information about the circumstances of the wreck, she said.
1:50 P.M.: Both lanes of I-40 near Jennette are open after being blocked due to vehicle fire
All lanes of Interstate 40 near Jennette are now open after they were initially blocked due to a vehicle fire, the Arkansas Department of Transportation said in a post on X just before 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday.
The fire was caused by a car accident with a police car and a tractor-trailer, the department said in an earlier post.
12:05 p.m.: Westbound lane of I-40 near Jennette open after being blocked due to vehicle fire after crash involving police car, tractor-trailer
The westbound lanes of Interstate 40 near Jennette are now open after being previously closed due to a vehicle fire after a crash involving a police car and a tractor-trailer, the Arkansas Department of Transportation said.
The lanes reopened around 11 a.m., a tweet from the department said. The eastbound lanes remain blocked.
11:32 a.m.: Part of I-40 near Jennette blocked due to vehicle fire after crash involving police car, tractor-trailer
Parts of both the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 40 in Crittenden County are blocked due to a vehicle fire after a car accident involving a tractor-trailer and a police car, the Arkansas Department of Transportation said Wednesday morning.
The accident is just over four miles west of West Memphis, near mile marker 267, according to a tweet from the department.
The tweet did not immediately identify which law enforcement entity the police car belonged to.
Traffic cameras in the area showed smoke covering both lanes of travel just before 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
An initial highway incident report said that there were no injuries.
Just before 10:30 a.m., an online IDriveArkansas travel map showed that traffic was backed up at least four miles in both lanes.