June 21, 2004|By Laura Loh | Laura Loh,SUN STAFF
Traffic was backed up for hours yesterday along Interstate 95 near the Maryland-Delaware border after a vehicle collision that killed a man south of the Newark Toll Plaza in Delaware, according to authorities.
The northbound lanes of I-95 were shut down for more than four hours after the collision at 9 a.m., and the southbound side was closed for about an hour, said Cpl. Helen Zane, a Delaware State Police spokeswoman. Traffic was backed up for about 10 miles on the Maryland side of the interstate, Maryland State Police said.
According to Delaware police, the crash occurred after a motorist lost control of her 2004 Mazda sedan and it spun out of the southbound lanes and across the grassy median. The sedan struck the side of a 1993 Ford Aerostar that had been traveling north, causing it to flip several times before coming to rest on its roof.
A 38-year-old New York resident riding in the van was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was withheld until relatives could be notified. The van's driver, a resident of Hempstead, N.Y., and six other occupants were taken to a Newark hospital with minor to serious injuries.
The driver of the sedan, a woman, 41, from Stafford, Va., and her three children were treated for minor injuries at an Elkton hospital and released.
Delaware police said an investigation was continuing.
