At least one woman was killed and two others injured following a multi-vehicle crash just before 6 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 30 east of New Boston, according to Sgt. Sylvia Jennings, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.
Heather Vanessa Higgs of New Boston, Texas, was pronounced dead at the scene, Jennings said.
The crash-involving six vehicles-was still under investigation at presstime Thursday.
About 5:40 p.m., DPS troopers responded to the crash on I-30 near the 200 mile marker. Jennings said that a preliminary crash investigation indicated that traffic was slowed down and coming to a stop because of an earlier collision.
Higgs was driving in a passenger car that was struck by a tractor-trailer "after (the tractor-trailer) had stopped behind a second truck-tractor that was stopped in the right lane," Jennings said.
The passenger car that Higgs occupied was engulfed in flames immediately after being struck, according to a DPS report.
The tractor-trailer that struck the passenger car Higgs was driving continued traveling on the right shoulder while on fire, Jennings said, and struck a second passenger car.
"Both vehicles were engulfed in flames soon after the collision," Jennings said. Both drivers were taken to hospitals in Texarkana.
Jennings said a sixth vehicle received some damage after the explosion, but no one was injured in that vehicle. There were also no injuries in the second tractor-trailer.