Two people were killed in an early-morning crash on Interstate 10, the Katy Freeway, in Houston on Wednesday, when an 18-wheeler and a car collided. The wreck happened on the inbound lanes near Highway 6, at a stretch between Eldridge and Highway 6, and shut the freeway down for hours as emergency crews worked the scene.
The crash occurred at about 5 a.m. Aerial images from over the freeway showed the aftermath, with the 18-wheeler flipped onto its side and a car left with devastating damage, its front end smashed in. The Harris County Sheriff's Office confirmed that two people had died in the collision.
Authorities said the two who were killed were the drivers involved. Houston police indicated that the truck had struck the car, though officials stressed that the exact cause of the collision remained under investigation in the hours after the wreck.
The severity of the crash was compounded by hazards at the scene. When the 18-wheeler overturned, diesel fuel spilled from the truck, creating a hazmat situation that crews had to contain. At one point the car that was involved caught fire, adding to the danger and the difficulty of clearing the roadway.
The combination of the diesel spill, the fire and the extent of the wreckage made for a slow and complicated clean-up. Reporters at the scene described the freeway being closed for more than six hours, with a massive backup building on I-10 and traffic diverted onto the feeder roads before being allowed back onto the highway further along.
It was only in the late morning that the vehicles were removed, with the 18-wheeler and the car towed away roughly three-quarters of an hour before emergency crews finished clearing the road. Even then, drivers were urged to keep avoiding the area as the last stretch of the freeway was reopened.
The identities of the two people who died had not been released, and the investigation into what led to the collision was continuing. For a busy commuting corridor, the crash turned the start of the day into a prolonged emergency, leaving two families facing loss and investigators working to determine how the truck and car came together with fatal force.