THREE KILLED TWO SERIOUSLY INJURED IN FIERY CRASH

In what is being termed as a “mass casualty incident,” three people were killed and two were seriously injured in a two-vehicle crash early yesterday afternoon. The incident, in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 68 near the New George’s Creek Road exit happened around 1 p.m. Allegany County Sheriff’s Office Dfc. Tanner Clites, who was returning from another call and first on the scene, pulled one driver from the burning wreckage, according to sheriff’s office Sgt. Christopher Hill.Clites was performing CPR on the victim as off-duty Maryland Deputy State Fire Marshal Jon Dowden and his wife, Krissy, an emergency room nurse, arrived. Three Medevac helicopters were requested, with two from the Maryland State Police and one from Conemaugh Medstar 1. One victim was flown by Trooper Five to Ruby Memorial Hospital trauma center in Morgantown. Two other victims were taken to UPMC-Western Maryland, where one died at the hospital. Interstate 68 Eastbound was closed for an extended period of time, while the Maryland State Police Reconstruction Team investigated.