Two Lawrence residents died as a result of injuries sustained in a Wednesday wrong-way crash on I-495, State Police said. (File photograph)
A driver and a passenger, both from Lawrence, riding in separate automobiles were killed Wednesday in a wrong-way crash near the Lawrence/Andover line. Two Andover women are also recovering from what police call “non-life threatening injuries” sustained in the accident.
State Police were called to the area just south of Exit 42A in Lawrence shortly before noon on Dec. 5 for reports of a head-on collision in the northbound lane of the highway.
First responders found that a 2016 Kia driven by a 38-year-old Lawrence woman was initially traveling southbound on I-495 and went through the median into traffic going northbound. She sideswiped a Ford F350 driven by a 59-year-old man from Dracut in the process, but the man was not injured.
The Kia later struck a Honda Pilot head-on before hitting a Toyota RAV4. Both women in the RAV4—a 58-year-old driver and 27-year-old passenger, both from Andover, were taken to Lawrence General Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
The Kia’s driver and the passenger of the Honda were declared dead at the scene, according to police. The driver of the Honda was taken to Lawrence General with serious injuries.
The highway was closed to all lanes of northbound traffic for several hours as the accident was investigated and cleared. All lanes are expected to be open for the evening rush hour commute.