1 Killed, 5 Injured in 7-Vehicle Pileup on I-80 in Wyoming

One person is dead following a seven-vehicle pileup on Interstate 80, the Wyoming Highway Patrol says.

It happened around 3:21 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, at milepost 143 in Sweetwater County, 30 miles west of Wamsutter or about 40 miles east of Rock Springs.

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Semi Rear-Ends Pickup, Setting Off Deadly Chain-Reaction Crash

According to a fatality crash summary, the driver of a gray Ram 1500 was slowing to a stop in the right-hand lane when, in their rearview mirror, they saw a white Freightliner traveling at a high rate of speed toward the other stopped vehicles.

The pickup driver attempted to move to the left-hand lane, but was rear-ended by the semi, causing the pickup to go into the median.

The semi then rear-ended a gray Ram 2500, causing it to rear-end a white Ram 2500, before spinning counterclockwise approximately 180 degrees into the left-hand lane.

The white Ram 2500 rear-ended a white Ram 1500, then slid off the interstate backwards, coming to stop in the right-of-way about 30 yards from the lane of travel facing north.

The white Ram 1500 spun clockwise 90 degrees in the lane of travel and was struck by the semi on the passenger side, and the pickup and semi crashed into the rear trailer bumper of a red Freightliner, causing it to jackknife and the rear driver's side tractor tires to hit the rear trailer bumper of a blue Freightliner.

1 Killed, 5 Injured, 4 Uninjured

Sadly, 23-year-old Mexico resident Cristobal Jara Garcia, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the pickup, didn't survive. Five others were also injured in the crash and four were not.

According to the summary, it was snowing and blowing, and the interstate was icy and snowy at the time of the crash. Speed and driver inattention are listed as possible contributing factors.

Garcia is the eighth reported person to die on I-80 in Wyoming this year.