Three killed in accident on Interstate 85

DINWIDDIE, VA (WWBT) - We continue following breaking news along Interstate 85 in Dinwiddie County.  Three people were killed in an accident that closed the road for more than six hours.

The accident happened about 11:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes, just about ten miles from Petersburg. All three victims were in a pickup truck involved in a chain-reaction crash with a logging truck and a charter bus.

Investigators are working to determine the exact sequence of events that led up to the crash.

What we do know, two men and a woman died in the crash.

A tractor trailer logging truck, a pick-up truck and a charter bus filled with college students crash. Four people were inside the pick-up truck, which ended up wedged underneath the logging truck. Several logs landed on top and went through the windshield of the pick-up.

"The victims were pinned beneath the logs in their seats. We had a complicated extraction," said Chief Dennis Hale from Dinwiddie County Fire & EMS.

A 4th passenger in the pick-up  was airlifted to the hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.

A charter bus with 49 students and a chaperone from North Carolina A&T State University,  was also involved in the collision. The group was headed to Baltimore for a conference.

"Basically we looked up, and we were running in the back of a truck," said Lee Parrish.

Passengers say the bus hit the rear of that pick-up truck. None of the students were injured.

"I was asleep, woke up abruptly. We got off the bus," said Tahirah Smith.

The driver of the bus was taken to the hospital.

"The driver was trapped under the steering and seat. She was conscious and talking," said Hale.

Investigators say it's unclear how exactly the multi-vehicle fatal crash happened.

The vehicles involved in the crash were traveling through an active work zone. Only the left lane was open to through traffic.

Police have not released the names of the victims. The students on board the bus were picked up by another charter bus, and are now at their conference in Baltimore.

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