Maryland State Police say two people died in a crash near the Cecil County end of the Tydings Bridge on I-95 early Friday.
Around 4:40 a.m. Friday, troopers were called to the vicinity of mile marker 91.8 between the bridge and the Perryville exit, where they found an extensively damaged tractor trailer and another vehicle had collided in the southbound lanes, according to a news release from the JFK Highway Barrack.
The driver of the tractor trailer, Vincent E. Pipken from Ashland City, Tenn., was partially ejected from his vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, state police said.
The other vehicle involved in the collision was a 2000 Ford Explorer, which state police said had been struck by the tractor trailer.
The driver of the Explorer, Adnil Hernandez from Jamaica Queens, N.Y., was also pronounced dead at the scene, state police said.
A passenger in the Explorer, Robert Hernandez, whom police identified as the husband of the driver, was transported by Medevac to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with what police described as non-life threatening injuries.
State police said preliminary investigation indicated the tractor trailer was traveling north when, for an unknown reason, it drove off the left side of the road and struck the center median guardrail and overturned.
The tractor trailer crossed into southbound traffic where it collided with the Explorer, which was traveling south, state police said.
Lanes for southbound traffic were closed for five hours, state police said, while the vehicles were removed and state police CRASH Team did accident reconstruction. Lanes for northbound traffic were also closed periodically during that time.
A Baltimore Sun traffic report Friday morning said southbound traffic was at one point backed up for several miles into Cecil County.
According to state police, Cecil County HAZMAT and the Perryville Fire Company assisted at the scene. The accident remains under investigation, state police said.