Crashes involving two tractor-trailers on Interstate 81 in Botetourt County early Thursday morning have left two dead, according to Virginia State Police.
Police responded to the incidents on northbound I-81 at mile marker 167, at Buchanan, at 2:17 a.m., according to a news release.
The initial wreck occurred at about 2:13 a.m. when a 2013 Volvo tractor-trailer ran off the left side of the roadway and hit the guardrail, causing the truck to overturn onto its side and block the road, according to Sgt. Richard Garletts.
Minutes later, a 2020 Freightliner tractor-trailer struck the overturned truck. The driver had been unable to see the wreck. “There were no lights visible for the second driver to see the first crash,” Garletts wrote in an update Thursday morning.
Both tractor-trailer drivers were killed. The driver of the 2013 Volvo was Zerai Asfedai Almedom, 56, of Mint Hill, North Carolina.
The driver of the 2020 Freightliner was Eric Russel Larson, 53, of Fort Worth, Texas. Both were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crashes.
The state police investigation into the wreck remained ongoing Thursday night.