WHITE COUNTY, Ind. — One person died Tuesday in a multiple-vehicle crash north of West Lafayette on Interstate 65 in White County.
Investigators said a red 2017 Freightliner semi-truck, pulling a tanker trailer containing a food-grade material, was driving in the northbound right lane of I-65 near the 187 mile-marker around 11 a.m. when it swerved into the left lane and struck a white 2014 GMC van, driven by James Harrington, 66, of Thomasville, North Carolina.
The GMC stopped in the median, but the Freightliner semi-truck went across the barrier and into the southbound lanes. The Freightliner semi-truck hit two trailers, which were being pulled by a blue 2019 Volvo semi-truck, driven by Frank Duran Jr., 56, of Chicago. One of the trailers split in half and caught on fire.
The Freightliner semi-truck and both trailers came to a stop in the ditch near the southbound lanes.
The driver of the Freightliner semi-truck was pronounced dead at the scene. The White County coroner identified the deceased driver as Jayaraj Narayanan, 48, of Des Plaines, Illinois.
Harrington and Duran, the other two drivers involved in the crash, were not injured.
