<p>Three Milledgeville residents died in an accident early Sunday morning that closed eastbound Interstate 20 near Madison for three and a half hours.</p><p>Killed were driver Yudernain Alvarez, 21, and two women, ages 24 and 33, said trooper H.T. Chapman of the Georgia State Patrol.</p><p>The women's names were not released because their families had not been notified by Sunday evening.</p><p>Chapman said Alvarez was driving a 2001 Dodge Durango with four passengers, none of whom were wearing seat belts, when the truck struck a metal guardrail at about 4:35 a.m.</p><p>The reason for the collision is unknown, although it is likely that Alvarez fell asleep, Chapman said.</p><p>The Durango flipped over onto the road and came to rest on its side. The 33-year-old woman and passengers Irlenda Reyes-Zuniga, 27, and Juan Chan, 24, both of Milledgeville, were ejected from the truck as it flipped.</p><p>Reyes-Zuniga and Chan were transported to Newton General Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Chapman said.</p><p>Minutes later, a tractor-trailer truck driven by David Mark Porter, 39, of Chattanooga, Tenn., came over the top of a hill and hit the Durango, knocking it 70 feet into the guardrail again.</p><p>When it bounced back onto the road, the Durango collided with a pickup truck pulling a boat trailer, driven by Gene Washington of Atlanta, 54.</p><p>Chapman said eastbound I-20 traffic was detoured, although some drivers who had passed the last exit were stuck for several hours waiting for the road to clear.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9c1c)</p>
