GOLDTOWN, W.Va. — Three people are dead after a horrific crash on I-77 in Jackson County.
Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger said a pickup truck owned by West Virginia Paving was headed southbound and lost control Thursday morning around 7:30 a.m. The truck struck a passenger vehicle headed north in the northbound lane near the Goldtown exit.
“Everybody in those two particular vehicles were DOA (dead on arrival),” Mellinger said.
Following the initial crash, a tractor trailer and another passenger vehicle also struck the first two vehicles involved.
“It was a really, really devastating accident. I’ve seen a lot of accidents in my 30 years and this would have to be in the top two or three, it was pretty devastating,” Mellinger said.
Police are investigating the crash and Mellinger said at this point they do not known what caused the West Virginia Paving vehicle to lose control and cross the median.
Names of those killed were not released. Mellinger confirmed the driver of the West Virginia Paving truck was local, but the other vehicle was from Ohio and the victims were from out-of-state.
I-77 northbound remained closed as the wreckage was cleared.