A crash on the Delaware Memorial Bridge killed at least two people and caused a major backup on Interstate 295 for hours Tuesday afternoon.
A truck driver from Virginia was driving toward Delaware in the southbound lanes when he rear-ended a Kia Optima that had broken down in the middle right lane around 3 p.m., the Delaware River and Bay Authority said in a news release Wednesday morning.
The force of the crash pushed the Kia across the right lane and into the guardrail, the DRBA said.
Officials said two people in the Kia died at the scene while one person was taken out of the car and sent to the hospital. The two people who died were later identified as 37-year-old driver Mary Sanderlin, of Salem, New Jersey, and 29-year-old passenger Rudolf Parish of Bridgeton, New Jersey.
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A 28-year-old Penns Grove resident in the front passenger seat suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Only one lane of traffic got by as three southbound lanes on the bridge were shut down -- through the evening rush -- until around 7 p.m. Lanes slowly started to reopen as various first responders and investigators from both Delaware and New Jersey investigated.
The scene was finally cleared around 9:20 p.m., the DRBA said.
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Charges were pending as of Wednesday morning.
