HAMILTON COUNTY, Fla. – Lake City troopers and Traffic Homicide investigators are working on two separate fatal crashes in Hamilton County on Interstate 75 that happened Saturday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
All northbound lanes of I-75 reopened at around 5 p.m. However, FHP said the right shoulder northbound at the 458-mile marker will remain closed until repairs have been made to the Alapaha River bridge.
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The first crash happened at 4:28 a.m. when a 32-year-old man driving north on I-75 left the roadway and struck a standing guardrail face on the east paved shoulder. The sedan stopped and was partially left in the outside lane. The driver was not injured.
Then, semi-truck collided with the disabled sedan, causing it to overturn and hit a standing guardrail face and concrete bridge barrier, engulfing it in flames.
FHP said the semi-truck driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Northbound traffic was stopped while being diverted due to that crash.
At around 6 a.m., a semi-truck was stopped in the outside lane with a pickup truck and another sedan behind it (due to the previous crash). FHP said a second semi-truck failed to stop and hit the rear of the sedan, and pushed it into the pickup truck, which then pushed into the rear of the first semi-truck.
Officials said the right front passenger of the pickup truck, a 47-year-old man from Tampa, was pronounced dead on the scene.
The pickup truck’s driver and another passenger were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. The semi-truck driver was transported to a hospital as well with serious injuries.