2 killed in I-40 crash caused by blowout
Posted: 07.17.2012 at 8:53 AM
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GRAY COUNTY, TEXAS -- Update: A third person has died as a result from the fatal accident along I-40. Steven J. Box died from injuries sustained in the Monday morning accident. He was pronounced dead at 11:06 am at Northwest Texas Hospital.

Two people were killed in a crash on Monday morning on Interstate 40 in Gray County.

The crash was caused by an apparent blowout, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

DPS said a 2000 Ford F550, driven by Jimmy N. Franco of Bigfork, Minn., was traveling eastbound on I-40 one miles west of mile marker 142 when one of its front tires blew out. That caused the vehicle to break through the cable barrier and cross the center median, DPS said.

The truck, according to DPS, traveled into the westbound lanes of traffic, striking a 2010 Freightliner conversion truck and a 2010 Dodge Avenger. The truck was towing a 2013 Stroughton Box Trailer.

Franco was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene. DPS said he was not wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the Dodge Avenger, 84-year-old Barbara J. Seibert of Hot Springs, Ark., was also pronounced dead at the scene. According to DPS, she was wearing a seat belt.