Authorities released the names of three people who were killed in a truck wreck early Wednesday that shut down I-75 in both directions north of Atlanta.
The fiery crash occurred between Cartersville and Adairsville in northern Bartow County.
Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said that a northbound tractor-trailer driven by George Benjamin White of Hiram left the roadway on the left side, striking a guardrail and a concrete pillar supporting an overhead sign and bursting into flames.
The sign fell onto the southbound lanes and was struck by a southbound tractor-trailer, which then also ran off the roadway.
White, 43, and his passenger, 36-year-old Jermaine Duriel Smith of Douglasville, were killed in the wreck, Wright said. Hugh Bruce Duling III, 58, of Powder Springs, who was driving the second truck, also died.
Authorities were forcing northbound traffic to exit the interstate at Exit 293, while southbound traffic was being diverted at Exit 306.
The northbound lanes were reopened about 5:30 a.m., and a single southbound lane was opened to traffic about an hour later, but two southbound lanes remained closed at 7 a.m. before being cleared later in the morning.
—Dispatch editor Angel K. Brooks contributed to this report.
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