COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri State Highway Patrol has released the names of the four people killed in an accident on Interstate 70 year Columbia.

The wreck happened Wednesday afternoon. I-70 was already shut down in the area due to an earlier vehicle fire. The patrol says the fatal crash occurred when a tractor-trailer driven by 63-year-old Otto Kramer III of Pickerington, Ohio, struck the rear of stopped vehicles, causing them to strike other vehicles. All told, three tractor-trailers and three passenger vehicles were involved in the wreck.

Kramer died, along with the drivers of two of the cars, 63-year-old Cindy Spradlin of Auxvasse, Missouri, and 44-year-old Jennifer Temple of Columbia. A car passenger, 60-year-old Vicky Moore of Auxvasse, also was killed.

 

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Four people died in a crash involving several vehicles on Interstate 70 near Columbia.

Boone County assistant fire chief Gale Blomenkamp says the crash involved a semi-trailer truck, which was hauling two other semis, as well as a tractor-trailer and two passenger vehicles.

A passenger in one car and the driver of another passenger vehicle died at the scene. An injured truck driver died at a Columbia hospital emergency room.

The Missouri State Highway patrol said a fourth person died later at a hospital. No names have been released.

The accident occurred while Interstate 70 was already shut down because of a vehicle fire. That shut-down caused a backup, which played a part in the crash.

The accident closed westbound lanes of the interstate for threel hours.