SWANTON — Authorities Friday identified three of the four people who were killed in three separate crashes that also injured 11 others the day before on the Ohio Turnpike near the Fulton-Lucas county line.
The Lucas County Coroner’s Office identified them as Ajla Vukovic, a 20-year-old woman from Utica, N.Y.; Dawa Norbu, a 9-year-old boy from Minneapolis, and Tenzin Drukgyal, a 46-year-old man, also of Minneapolis.
The identity of the fourth fatal victim remains under investigation.
All died from injuries suffered in the crashes, according to the coroner’s office.
The first crash was reported about 5:34 a.m. Thursday in the eastbound lanes on the western edge of Lucas County, just past the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Swanton post and near a mainline toll plaza that opened this spring. Two people were killed and three people were injured in a crash involving a car and a tractor-trailer hauling sulfuric acid.
Kenneth Bragg, investigator-in-charge at National Traffic Safety Board, said a 2014 Toyota Highlander sport-utility vehicle was traveling east on Interstate 80, near mile post 49 in the high-speed toll lanes when, for a yet undetermined reason, it slowed down and was struck from the rear by a tractor-trailer rig.
“After this impact, the Toyota veered off the right side of the highway. The truck tractor struck a concrete barrier and overturned, causing the release of this hazardous material,” Mr. Bragg said.
Mr. Bragg spoke during an NTSB news conference Friday at Home2 Suites by Hilton Perrysburg.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, who also spoke during the event, said investigators are looking into all possible factors that might have contributed to the crash.
Ms. Homendy emphasized that it is yet unknown whether driver confusion or unfamiliarity with the layout of the new mainline toll plaza was a contributing factor.
“We don't speculate. We work with facts. We still have a lot to investigate here,” she said when asked about such a possibility.
For example, investigators are looking into contradictory witness accounts about the presence of fog on that particular stretch of the road at the time of the crash, Ms. Homendy said. Some witnesses said there was fog, others said there was no fog, and yet others that it was lifting, she noted.
“I’ve represented this region for a long time, and I know about the fog,” U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) who attended the conference, said in an interview. “I don't know it can lift. You can be out of it and then into it again.
“But I also know that these new toll improvements may not all be completed. People find them confusing. I'll be interested to see what the Safety Board recommends when they complete their investigation.”
Just before 6 a.m. Thursday, in the first accident’s backup, four commercial trucks and a single passenger vehicle crashed. The accident, near mile post 48, about a mile behind the first accident, killed one person and injured three others.
And at about 6:24 a.m. in the turnpike’s westbound lanes near mile post 50.8 in western Lucas County, three commercial vehicles and two passenger vehicles collided. One person was killed and five others were hurt in that crash.
Ms. Homendy said Friday it was too early to say anything more about the latter two crashes. All of the crashes remain under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
More than 100 emergency personnel responded to the scenes Thursday, including fire and medical crews from Springfield Township, Whitehouse, Maumee, Monclova Township, Providence Township, and Toledo, according to Springfield Township Assistant Fire Chief Andrew Sauder.
A Springfield Township firefighter was put through decontamination at the scene and taken to an area hospital for treatment to possible reaction to the chemicals released at the first crash. He was treated and later released.
Six state troopers and two turnpike workers were sent through the hazmat unit’s dry decontamination unit and later taken by ambulance to area hospitals for assessment based on their proximity to the first crash scene. None of the eight exhibited any ill effects, but protocol mandated they be evaluated at a hospital, responders said.
The turnpike was closed in both directions until early Thursday afternoon.
Following the crashes, Facebook groups were buzzing to locate dogs that ended up lost.
In the "Lost, Found, and Rehoming pets in the Lucas, Henry & Fulton county area" Facebook group, Allison Minor, claiming to be the sister-in-law of the owner of two dogs posted pictures of the dogs and kept a full coalition of people with their eyes peeled for developments.
The two dogs, David, a black lab-looking dog with white on its chest, and Henley, a larger, dark brown Rottweiler mix, have yet to be confirmed anywhere.
Swanton police took a dog to a Veterinary Emergency Center Thursday night, and the dog was transferred back to Fulton County on Friday, according to Cassie Bloomfield, community outreach coordinator for Lucas County Canine Care & Control.
Blade staff writer Stephen Zenner contributed to this report.
Local News
