Woman killed in fiery crash is identified

GAINESVILLE- The woman killed in that fiery crash that closed I-85 for 12 hours Friday is identified 45-old Holly Cook of Asheville, North Carolina.

Whitfield said she was burned beyond recognition and died on impact.

"It was a horrendous crash," he said. "Both vehicles burst into flames."

The accident involved a tanker truck and shut down all lanes of I-85 north and southbound in Jackson County just north of the Pendergrass interchange.

Georgia DOT says the northbound lanes were reopened shortly after nine Saturday morning. Southbound lanes were cleared at 11 p.m. Friday.

State troopers said a car from North Carolina traveling southbound jumped the median and the tanker hit it head-on, causing an explosion.

Troopers say that HazMat teams from Hall and Gwinnett counties arrived on the scene to clean the spill of a chlorine mixture used to clean chicken houses.

Police diverted traffic from the interstate heading northbound onto US 129 in Pendergrass, where they were detoured to Hog Mountain Road to GA 82. Southbound lanes were diverted onto GA 42 to GA 347 to US 129.

The tanker truck driver escaped serious injury and was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital.