5 killed in wrong-way crash in Mass.
MIDDLEBORO, Mass. -- Five people were killed early Monday morning when a wrong-way driver crashed head-on into another car on Interstate 495 in Middleboro, CBS Boston reports.
State police said the driver was heading south in the northbound lanes when the car slammed into another vehicle carrying four people just after midnight near Route 28.
All five people in both cars died. No names have been made public because their families have not been notified yet.
Anthony Thomas, the commanding officer of the State Police barracks in Middleboro, said the four people in the car that was hit were all “young adults.”
It’s not clear how long the driver of the wrong-way vehicle was on the highway, but Thomas said State Police received at a call at 12:11 a.m., moments before the crash.
Thomas said the wrong-way driver hit the other car head-on in the high-speed lane, causing it to burst into flames. It appears the four people in the car had no time to react to the oncoming driver.
“There is no indication that time allowed for evasive action by the northbound motor vehicle operator to avoid the vehicle travelling the wrong way,” Thomas told reporters at a news conference.
The northbound lane was closed for several hours. It re-opened around 5:30 a.m.