Two people were injured last night, one of them critically, when three vehicles collided in the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Howard County, less than a mile from the scene of a fatal crash Tuesday, state police reported.

The latest crash occurred shortly after 8 p.m. near a rest area in the Savage area, where a passer-by reported seeing a fireball rising from the site - apparently from an exploding gasoline tank.

Details were unavailable.

One victim was taken to Laurel Regional Hospital, and the other to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said state police Sgt. William Bergan at the Waterloo Barracks.

The crash closed all but one of the four traffic lanes for about 30 minutes, and traffic was detoured onto Route 32.

About 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, the driver of a 1991 Honda CRX left the same I-95 rest area by the wrong entrance ramp and was heading north in the fast lane when he crashed into a van occupied by four people.

The driver of the Honda - identified yesterday as Robert Wallace Riffey, 58, of Marion, Va. - died at the scene near Vollmerhausen Road, while the driver of the van and its three passengers were treated at Howard County General Hospital, police said.