One person is dead after one semi hit another on the Kansas Turnpike near Emporia on Monday night.
The Kansas Highway Patrol says the crash happened shortly before 10:15 pm at mile marker 120.9 northbound, about seven miles southwest of the Emporia tollgate. Troopers say a semi driven by 28-year-old Darrien Lorenzo Williams of Houston, Texas, was parked on the right shoulder. A semi driven by 35-year-old Yuriy Lendel of Nixa, Missouri, drifted from the highway to the shoulder and rear-ended Williams’ vehicle.
Lendel was pronounced dead early Tuesday morning. Williams suffered suspected minor injuries and was taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment. Neither driver was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. One semi was fully engulfed in flames when Emporia Fire arrived on scene shortly after the emergency call and firefighters also had to put out a small grass fire that resulted from the crash.
Northbound traffic was completely blocked for about five hours. One lane of traffic opened up around 3:15 am.
