WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A crash involving two semi tractor-trailers shut down traffic on part of I-35 the turnpike in the southbound lanes between Oliver and Woodlawn around 2:15 p.m. Saturday.
It happened between the K-15 interchange and the Kellogg interchange. The Kansas Highway Patrol said one truck was having mechanical issues that forced it to remain at a slow speed. Troopers say that as the slow truck tried to get onto the shoulder of the road, a second truck going at highway speed crashed into the back of it.
“The second vehicle that rear-ended the first was loaded with vegetable oil, and it eventually caught on fire,” Capt. John Lehnherr, KHP, said. “The collision was so major that the actual cab was sheered off the frame of the semi.”
Darwin Dammann, 60, of Iowa, was driving the second truck. The impact of the crash threw him from the vehicle, and he suffered critical injuries. He died at the hospital. The driver of the other truck, Ibrahim Bashir, 34, of Denver, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
