Atlanta police are investigating a fiery chain-reaction wreck Sunday night that left a motorist dead and shut down I-285 for hours.
The wreck happened about 9 p.m. on I-285 southbound just south of the Campbellton Road exit, according to Atlanta police spokesman John Chafee.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that a four-door sedan left the roadway, struck the guardrail on the right shoulder, came back into the travel lanes and was struck by a pickup truck,” Chafee said in an e-mail. “As a result of the collision, the sedan caught fire.”
A tractor-trailer driver ran off the interstate into a ditch while trying to avoid the wreck, Chafee said.
The driver of the sedan died at the scene, and a passenger in the vehicle was hospitalized in critical condition, Chafee said.
The pickup truck driver and the driver of the tractor-trailer were taken to local hospitals in stable condition.
The names of those killed and injured were not immediately released.
The wreck closed the southbound lanes of I-285 until 3:30 a.m. Monday.
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