According to a press release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, four people were killed and 11 others were injured in three separate traffic accidents on the Ohio Turnpike Thursday morning.
The first accident occurred at about 5:30 a.m. local time on Interstate 80 eastbound in Swanton Township, Fulton County. The accident involved a commercial truck carrying sulfuric acid and a car. Two people were killed in the accident and three others were taken to hospitals in the Toledo area. Their injuries are currently unknown.
The Toledo fire department has set up a 46-meter radius around the accident site “as a precaution,” the press release states.
Less than 30 minutes later, a second accident occurred on eastbound Interstate 80 in Fulton Township, Fulton County. Four commercial vehicles and one car were involved in the accident. One person was killed in the accident and three others were injured. The injured were taken to local hospitals with “unknown injuries,” the press release said.
The third accident occurred at approximately 6:24 a.m. local time on westbound Interstate 80 in Swanton Township, Lucas County. Three commercial vehicles and two cars were involved in the accident, which left one person dead and five others injured.
Ajax9 via Getty Images
The Ohio Turnpike was closed in both directions between State Route 108 and State Route 2 for several hours Thursday morning.
“At least one eastbound and westbound lane on the Turnpike has been opened,” the press release states, which Newsweek Thursday afternoon.
The Ohio Turnpike runs over Interstate 80 and connects Chicago to the East Coast. The highway patrol was assisted by several police agencies and emergency responders on Thursday.
“These crashes remain under investigation,” the press release said.
WTVG, a local ABC affiliate, shared a photo of an overturned truck on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday morning. The station’s post included a message that read: “Viewer photos show an overturned semi-truck on the Ohio Turnpike as part of the Thursday morning crash that closed traffic in both directions.”
In December 2022, a 46-vehicle pileup occurred on the Ohio Turnpike, killing four people and injuring others. The accident began eastbound between State Route 53 and State Route 4 in Sandusky County and extended into Erie County.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed at the time that winter weather conditions were a cause of the accident.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” a 30-year veteran of the Toledo Fire and EMS department told WTOL11, a local CBS affiliate, at the time. “One of the worst incidents I’ve ever been on duty in.”
