In The News

Averitt Express driver killed in fiery crash

A driver for Ohio-based Averitt Express Inc. died in a fiery work-zone crash in Indiana on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

According to Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts, two tractor-trailers were traveling east on Interstate 70 near mile marker 30 in Putnam County around 3:16 p.m. on Wednesday. Watts told Land Line it “appears the (Averitt) driver just failed to stop in time” and hit the tractor-trailer in front of him.

Following the crash, the Averitt driver was pinned in his truck cab, and died after his truck cab caught on fire. Watts said the ISP still isn’t releasing the name of the driver because the coroner has yet to “make a positive ID.” He said this process could take a week.

TransForce Inc. driver Kundan S. Randwaha, 57, of Ontario, Canada, was driving a 2005 Volvo and box trailer when he was rear-ended in the one-lane construction zone.

Watts said the crash is still under investigation. The make and model of the Averitt truck isn’t known at the time because it was “burned beyond recognition.”

According to the ISP release, it took “area fire departments nearly two hours to fully extinguish” the fire.

A post-crash inspection of the tractor-trailers “revealed no mechanical or administrative factors for the crash,” the ISP report stated. Watts said it doesn’t appear at this time that speed was a factor in the crash.

www.LandLineMag.com