A five-mile stretch of the eastbound lanes on Interstate 16 was closed for about 12 hours Friday after an early morning accident involving three tractor-trailer rigs took the life of one driver, said Georgia State Patrol Trooper First-Class J. B. Hodges.
An unidentified driver was driving a tractor-trailer rig eastbound on I-16 around 2:15 a.m. Friday when he "lost control and overturned on the interstate," Hodges said.
A second 18-wheeler, driven by Kenneth C. Mann, 48, of Alamo, was traveling behind the first truck and struck the overturned rig. Mann died in the crash, he said.
A third tractor-trailer truck avoided the tangle by leaving the roadway and running onto the median, Hodges said.
Hodges said weather could possibly be a factor in the accident, as Bulloch County Central 911 received two reported tornado sightings "before, during and after" the wreck. However, the exact cause of the first truck driver losing control and overturning his rig is not known at this time, he said.
The accident took place "110 feet from the Bulloch-Candler County line" inside of Bulloch County, a half mile from the Pulaski exit, he said.
Interstate 16 eastbound between the Excelsior Road-Pulaski Exit 111 and Statesboro Exit 116 was closed for almost 12 hours while work crews removed wreckage and logs scattered by one of the trucks. The interstate reopened at 2 p.m., according to Georgia State Patrol reports.
An unidentified driver was driving a tractor-trailer rig eastbound on I-16 around 2:15 a.m. Friday when he "lost control and overturned on the interstate," Hodges said.
A second 18-wheeler, driven by Kenneth C. Mann, 48, of Alamo, was traveling behind the first truck and struck the overturned rig. Mann died in the crash, he said.
A third tractor-trailer truck avoided the tangle by leaving the roadway and running onto the median, Hodges said.
Hodges said weather could possibly be a factor in the accident, as Bulloch County Central 911 received two reported tornado sightings "before, during and after" the wreck. However, the exact cause of the first truck driver losing control and overturning his rig is not known at this time, he said.
The accident took place "110 feet from the Bulloch-Candler County line" inside of Bulloch County, a half mile from the Pulaski exit, he said.
Interstate 16 eastbound between the Excelsior Road-Pulaski Exit 111 and Statesboro Exit 116 was closed for almost 12 hours while work crews removed wreckage and logs scattered by one of the trucks. The interstate reopened at 2 p.m., according to Georgia State Patrol reports.