Horrific Work-Zone Crash Kills 6 Construction Workers

Six people were killed when a passenger vehicle hit a work zone along the Baltimore beltway and struck construction workers, Maryland State Police said Wednesday. Troopers responded to the work zone on northbound Interstate 695 at Security Boulevard in the Woodlawn area around 12:40pm for a report of a pedestrian crash, police said in a news release. Police said emergency medical service personnel pronounced six people, all of them workers, dead on the scene, and the driver of the car was taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center, the AP reports. The crash closed the beltway in both directions for hours.

Police said Wednesday night that according to a preliminary investigation, a gray Acura flipped across temporary jersey barriers into the work zone after hitting the front of a white Volkswagen while trying to change lanes, the Baltimore Sun reports. The Acura driver was hospitalized. Police said the Volkswagen had stopped on the road because it was disabled, CBS reports. The driver was not injured.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski called the incident horrific. "We offer our sincere condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in today’s tragic crash," he tweeted. Police didn’t release the names of those who were killed pending the notification of next of kin. (More car crash stories.)