Victims ID'd In Fatal Fiery Crash On I-85 In Gwinnett County

NORCROSS, GA—The Gwinnet County Police Department has identified the victims involved in deadly multi-vehicle crash, which resulted in a massive fire that blocked all northbound lanes of I-85 in Gwinnett County over the weekend. The victims have been identified as Emerald Lynn, 31, of Norcross and Yonas Worku, 44, Snellville.

Gwinnett County police responded to reports of a traffic accident involving multiple vehicles on Interstate 85 northbound near Jimmy Carter Boulevard at approximately 7:50 a.m. on Saturday. While arriving to the scene, officers say they located an overturned tanker truck and a passenger car fully engulfed in flames. Fire crews from both Gwinnett County and Dekalb County responded to the scene. All of Interstate 85 northbound was shut down at that time, with traffic being diverted onto Pleasantdale Road.

Prior to the accident, police said Lynn was driving a silver Volkswagen Passat and was stopped in the second from the right lane after having just been involved in a separate traffic accident. Worku was driving a Freightliner truck pulling a fuel tanker trailer containing approximately 8500 pounds of fuel. Worku approached the rear of Lynn’s stopped vehicle, and for unknown reasons, was unable to stop or avoid a collision, police said.

After the initial collision, police said both vehicles separated from each other before the tanker truck spun sideways across four lanes of traffic, causing it to flip multiple times. Both vehicles came to rest adjacent to one another, and both were quickly engulfed in flames.

Both Lynn and Worku died from injuries sustained during the accident, police said.

Police said the flammable liquid from the tanker quickly drained into a nearby storm drain. As a result, fire spread underground in the storm drain further south on I-85, even crossing underneath Interstate 85 southbound, and exiting a storm drain near Crescent Drive.

This resulted in multiple fires and large smoke stacks on and around both Interstate 85 northbound and southbound, police said. Traffic on I-85 southbound was diverted onto Beaver Ruin Road. Several drivers that were stopped on the interstate were evacuated on foot from their vehicle and took cover behind nearby business, police said. Fire personnel addressed all active fires until it was contained to the accident scene and eventually completely extinguished.

In total, Interstate 85 northbound was shutdown either completely, or partially, for approximately 10 hours, police said. Emergency paving was conducted at the accident scene to repair damage to the roadway before it was re-opened at approximately 6 p.m.