Man dies in fiery crash that shuts down I-80 for 4 hours

Published: Saturday, June 13, 2009 11:39 p.m. MDT
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One person is dead following a fiery crash Saturday morning that closed I-80 for about four hours near the Salt Lake-Tooele county line.

Mark Neilson of Magna was killed instantly.

About 11 a.m., a FedEx semitrailer pulling three trailers was traveling west and collided head-on with an eastbound sports-utility vehicle driven by Neilson.

The crash caused both vehicles to catch fire and halted both directions of traffic, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Cameron Roden said.

The FedEx truck was transporting an unknown amount of ammunition, some of which discharged.

Police are looking for a "dirty white pickup" that witnesses say may have been a contributing factor in the crash, Roden said. Witnesses to the accident said the white pickup cut off the SUV and did not stop at the scene.

The driver of the semitrailer was transported by medical helicopter to University Hospital in serious condition, he said.

One lane in each direction was open by 3 p.m.

— Clayton Norlen

Recent comments

what to hear something interesting?
I just called fedex (6/23) to...

phyllis | June 23, 2009 at 6:40 p.m.

First of all a semi with no trailers [bobtail] is more...

benny | June 20, 2009 at 6:04 a.m.

First off, the FedEx driver was on the completly other side of the...

Tooele Resident & FedEx employee | June 17, 2009 at 11:31 a.m.

Image

Firefighter walks past burned wreckage of Dodge Dakota that collided with a FedEx semitruck Saturday on I-80 near the Salt Lake-Tooele border, killing the driver of the Dakota and injuring the FedEx driver. The fiery crash shut down I-80 in both directions for four hours.

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