Six dead after accident on Interstate 75 in south Georgia

ADEL - A tractor trailer and a minivan collided on Interstate 75 in south Georgia on Friday, triggering a five-vehicle accident that killed six people and forced the closure of the highway. <br> <br> Officials said two tractor-trailers, the minivan and one sports utility vehicle were involved in the accident shortly before 3 p.m. in northern Cook County, about 25 miles north of Valdosta. <br> <br> ``This is one of, if not the worst, accidents with the amount of injuries and deaths that we have seen occur at one time in Cook County,&#39;&#39; sheriff&#39;s Sgt. Terry Arnold said. <br> <br> Officials believed that all six killed were passengers in the van that crashed into one of the tractor-trailers. <br> <br> The driver of the rig, Donald Herndon, got out and pulled the van driver out of his vehicle, said Cpl. Don Whitaker of the Georgia State Patrol. <br> <br> Heavy summer traffic both north and south stopped abruptly. Officials detoured traffic as wreckers hauled away debris. Herndon&#39;s rig was still burning in the median at 7 p.m., although the interstate was reopened. <br> <br> Also Friday, Kelley Burke, 17, of Hendersonville, Tenn., died as a result of injuries in one of two other fatal accidents within the same 25-mile stretch of I-75. <br> <br> Burke and three other young 17- and 18-year-old girls were reportedly returning to their home in Tennessee on Thursday afternoon after a beach trip at the time of their accident in a construction zone. <br> <br> John R. Schrader, 36, Whiteland, Ind., died Wednesday after his accident on I-75, in which his car traveled about .10 of a mile through grass and small trees before coming to rest in the woods.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/7/192265