Palm Coast, FL - At least three accidents on Interstate 95 in Flagler County caused major headaches for drivers during the morning commute, including a four-vehicle wreck which sparked a fire and killed a truck driver.
That accident occurred around 6:20 a.m. today (October 8th) on the southbound side of the highway at Mile Marker 291, two miles north of the Palm Coast Parkway exit.
The Florida Highway Patrol hasn't identified the driver who died in the accident, other than to say it's a man and that his family needs to be notified first before his name is released publicly.
According to the accident report, the man who died was driving a 2006 International 8600 with two trailers attached south on I-95 in the right-hand lane when he rear-ended the trailer of another semi in front of him which was stopped because of backed-up traffic from a previous crash. That vehicle caught fire upon impact, with the driver dying on scene.
Troopers say it looks like the engine of the semi which caught on fire separated from the rest of the vehicle upon impact, hitting the front of the semi it had just rear-ended before coming to rest in the southbound center lane.
A Honda CRV also hit that engine and spun out due to wet road conditions after the driver wasn't able to swerve out of the way, per the report.
That rear-ended semi jackknifed from the initial impact, causing it to hit the back of another semi in front.
Two of the drivers involved - 63-year-old Ruben Dennis of Bound Brook, NJ and 68-year-old Mary Boukas of North Venice, FL - had minor injuries at the scene. The other driver - 60-year-old Kenneth Palm of Sumter, SC - had no injuries. Boukas was the driver of the CRV and the others were in the semis.
Neither alcohol nor drugs are believed to be factors in the accident, though an autopsy is pending to make sure that was the case for the driver who died. Everyone involved was wearing seat belts, per FHP.
According to FL511.com, the other accidents happened around 4:15 a.m. on the southbound side near Mile Marker 289 - just south of Palm Coast Parkway - and at around 8 a.m. on Mile Marker 295, which is just south of Old Kings Road. Those accidents also had injuries reported, but FHP hasn't released any details about them at this time.
Authorities closed all southbound lanes and at least two northbound lanes because of the wrecks, forcing drivers onto alternate roads like U.S. 1 while investigators processed the scenes.
