Three people injured in multi-vehicle wreck that shut down Interstate 15 southbound in Shelley area

SHELLEY — Interstate 15 southbound in the Shelley area was temporarily shut down Saturday because of a three-vehicle injury accident, authorities said.

The crash occurred on the freeway’s southbound lanes around 4 p.m. Saturday in the Rose area south of Shelley and resulted in three people being hospitalized.

Interstate 15 southbound remained closed for about three hours because of the crash.

The Bingham County Sheriff’s Office said one of the crash victims was flown from the scene via emergency helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.

Interstate 15’s northbound lanes were briefly shut down so the helicopter could land on the freeway and pick up the accident victim, a 20-year-old man from Boise.

The two other people injured in the crash were a 25-year-old man from Riverside, Utah, and a 20-year-old woman from Boise, authorities said. They were both transported via Blackfoot Fire Department ambulances to EIRMC.

The names and conditions of the accident victims haven’t been released.

The Sheriff’s Office said the wreck was caused by traffic slowing on Interstate 15 because of an earlier motorhome crash on the southbound lanes. That accident involved a motorhome careening off the freeway and crashing, though there were no injuries, authorities said.

Idaho State Police issued the following description of the ensuing three-vehicle wreck: “A 25-year-old male from Riverside, Utah, was driving southbound on I-15 in a 2015 Ford F150 pickup truck. It struck a 2007 Nissan Sentra, occupied by a 20-year-old male driver and a 20-year-old female passenger, both from Boise, that was slowing down for backed up traffic. The Nissan then collided with a 2003 GMC Sierra pickup driven by a 62-year-old male, with a 62-year-old female passenger, both from Pocatello. The Nissan proceeded to roll and came to rest on its roof. The Ford came to rest in the median.”

Following the three-vehicle wreck, multiple other crashes occurred on Interstate 15 southbound because of the slowing traffic caused by the closure of the southbound lanes. None of those crashes resulted in injuries, authorities said.

Traffic on Interstate 15 northbound was a bit congested as well because of northbound motorists slowing down to look at the southbound crashes, authorities said.

All of the wrecks remain under investigation by state police.