Fiery fatal crash bottlenecks Highway 99 north of Selma. CHP describes what happened
A driver was killed and his passenger, a juvenile girl, was injured Thursday morning in a fiery crash that closed part of Highway 99 for nearlly seven hours, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The 57-year-old man and the 10-year-old girl were in a Toyota Prius following a big rig about 7:30 a.m. in a northbound lane south of Manning Avenue when for unknown reasons the sedan struck the back of the big rig’s trailer, Officer Mike Salas said.
The Toyota Prius became pinned between the big rig’s trailer and a barricade and both burst into flames.
Neither the Toyota Prius driver nor the girl were immediately identified. They are both from Selma, Salas said.
The big rig driver was not hurt. His trailer was loaded with cheese.
Northbound traffic was being diverted on exits from Kingsburg north to Floral Avenue in Selma with highway entrances closed. “It’s going to be a lengthy closure,” Salas said.
Fire crews were still working on smoldering parts of the big rig trailer 90 minutes after the crash.
The fast lane of northbound 99 was reopened by 11:45 a.m., Salas said, and the remaining lanes were cleared at 2:15 p.m.
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This story was originally published July 7, 2022 at 8:37 AM.
