Investigation ongoing in 1-81 crash
(AP) Although state police continue investigating Friday's 32-vehicle crash on Interstate 81 and had no additional information Saturday, they did provide details about a second crash in the same area about two minutes after the major pileup.
That crash occurred about 3:47 p.m. in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81 at mile marker 135.2 in Delano Township. The major crash that resulted in a Hazleton man being killed occurred at mile marker 135.4.
In the second crash, Trooper Brian Walters of the Frackville station said Terry C. Calloway, 40, of Edwardsville, was driving north in the right lane through a heavy snow squall that caused poor visibility and slippery road conditions when she came upon stopped traffic and began to slow down.
As Calloway applied her brakes, her car began to slide out of control and struck the rear of a car driven by Tea B. Lanfranconi, 20, of Alexandria, Virginia.
The impact pushed Lanfranconi's car off the right side of the road, while Calloway's car went off the left side of the road and into the median.
Calloway was injured in the crash. Walters said that Lanfranconi was not hurt.
A short distance north of that incident - about two-tenths of a mile - 32 vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction crash during the same snow squall.
That crash claimed the life of Charles M. Ehrenberg, 55, of Hazleton, whose pickup truck became part of a scene of twisted metal with drivers and passengers trapped inside their vehicles.
Rescuers from Schuylkill and Luzerne counties worked to free those trapped. Three people suffered injuries serious enough to have them flown to trauma centers by medical helicopters that landed on the northbound lanes of the interstate.
State police Cpl. Jeremy Carroll said in addition to the three people airlifted, 23 people were taken to area hospitals for treatment of less severe injuries.
The crashes shut down the northbound lanes o f the interstate for more than 10 hours. The roadway was reopened to traffic at 2:10 a.m. Saturday, police said.