2 killed in I-5 crash at Grand Mound

Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published October 03, 2008

All lanes of Interstate 5 are expected to reopen in the next hour following a collision this morning between a tractor-trailer and car that left two people dead and two children critically injured.

One lane is open in each direction at milepost 88 as the Washington State Patrol continues to investigate the collision. Trooper J.J. Gunderman said all lanes should reopen within the next hour.

The Washington State Department of Transportation said at 4 p.m. that there is a 11-mile backup in the northbound lanes and a 13-mile backup in the southbound lanes. All lanes of I-5 had been temporarily closed after the collision.

The collision occurred around 10:45 a.m.

A southbound Subaru Legacy lost control after the driver hit the brakes to stop for slowing traffic, veered into the center median, skidded underneath the cable barrier and crashed head-on into a northbound tractor-trailer, Washington State Patrol Trooper J.J. Gunderman said. It was raining at the time of the collision, he said.

The driver and the front passenger, described by Gunderman as a man in his 40s, died at the scene. The identity of the driver is unknown at this time. Their names weren't released.

A 6-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, both in the back seat of the Subaru, were injured, Gunderman said. The girl was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries, he said. The boy was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital and then airlifted to Harborview, he said.

A 9-1-1 dispatcher supervisor, Jen Riddle, said emergency responders had planned to land a helicopter on the freeway to airlift the girl, but the landing was cancelled due to the weather.

The tractor-trailer driver was uninjured.

"By witness accounts, he didn't do anything wrong," Gunderman said.